Final answer:
The accented syllable in 'coitus' is 'coi'. When combining stems and suffixes, if a stem ends in a silent 'e' and the suffix begins with a consonant, we keep the 'e' to keep the 'c' soft, as in 'noticeable'. For stems ending in 'c' with a suffix starting with 'e', 'i', or 'y', a 'k' is added to keep the 'c' sound hard, as in 'panicked'.
Step-by-step explanation:
The accented syllable in the term coitus is 'coi'. The correct pronunciation would be COI-tus, with emphasis on the first syllable 'coi'. Understanding the accented syllables in words is important for proper pronunciation and can also influence the meaning in some cases.
For combining stems and suffixes, when the stem ends in a silent e, and the suffix is not starting with a vowel that would keep the 'c' soft, we don't delete the final 'e' in the stem. An example of this is the word noticeable where we keep the 'e' to preserve the soft 'c' sound.
In cases where a stem ending in 'c' is followed by a suffix starting with e, i, or y, a 'k' is inserted to maintain the hard 'c' sound, such as in panicked.