Strong forms and weak forms

Some common words (e.g. and, them, of) have strong forms and weak forms.

The weak forms are more common. For example,

• in the sentence 'I saw them leave.', the weak form // would be used.

The strong form is used when you want to emphasize the word. For instance,

• in the sentence 'They said they saw me, but I didn't see them.', the strong form // would be used.