A word is said to be “in pause” when a major accent falls on it (i.e., Sillûq or ϶Athnāξ). In both cases the word are at the end of a clause. Often a word “in pause” will look very strange for the vowel that you expect to be short is often long since the tendency in speech is to prolong that syllable. Examples: בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) אָֽרֶץ is normally pointed as אֶ֣רֶץ.