Where does the stress accent usually go for words that end in A or O?

There's no simple rule for where the stress accent goes for words ending in A or O. The placement of the stress accent in English is often irregular and depends on the word's origin and history.

Here's why it's tricky:

* Many words are borrowed from other languages: English has a rich history of borrowing words from languages like French, Latin, Greek, and others. These borrowed words often retain their original stress patterns.

* Multiple pronunciations exist: Even within English itself, there are variations in pronunciation depending on regional accents and dialects.

Here are some general tendencies, but remember these are not hard and fast rules:

* Words ending in -a:

* Often stressed on the penultimate syllable (the one before the last): "banana," "camera," "drama."

* Sometimes stressed on the final syllable: "sofa," "piano," "antenna."

* Words ending in -o:

* Often stressed on the penultimate syllable: "potato," "tomato," "radio."

* Sometimes stressed on the final syllable: "zero," "stereo," "hero."

Ultimately, the best way to learn the correct stress placement for a word is to look it up in a dictionary or listen to how native speakers pronounce it.