Question

Write in detail, giving examples whenever appropriate, on stress and rhythm of connected speech in english.

Answer 1

Stress is putting emphasis on a certain syllable in a word or a certain word in a sentence. This helps indicate the important word in the sentence. 
For example, 

"It was an outstanding achievement". 

The word outstanding seems to be stresses upon illustrating that outstanding was the most important word that explains how the achievement was.

Sentence stress also serves as a basis for the rhythmical structure in the sentence. 
The rhythm is usually formed by a combination of stressed words occurring once or more and both stressed and unstressed words spoken or written at different intervals in a sentence.  
In order to acquire a good rhythm in speech it is essential that proper emphasis to stressed syllables is made. And proper organisation of words is done by pausing at different places when required. 
For example:

"The lady you met last Saturday came to visit us today". 

This sentence shows a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. Where the stressed syllables are 'lady', 'last Saturday', 'today'. However there must be a natural pause after Saturday in order to ensure the rhythm of the sentence. 

Thus, both stress and rhythm are quite important in gaining a natural, smooth flowing style of speech.