Home » Word classes

Topic: Word class

These resources relate to word classes (traditionally known as 'parts of speech'). Words are grouped into different classes, such as noun and verb, on the basis of their behaviour: where they occur in relation to other words and what they do within sentences.

Homonyms 1 (Stein)

Lesson

Objective

To identify the different meanings of homonyms of various word classes. 

Activity 1

Look at these two words. How many meanings can you think of for each? 

  • bank 
  • pupil

  • bank 
    1. an organization or a building that handles money and provides financial services. 
    2. the land on the side of a river or a lake

    »

    Homonyms 2 (Stein)

    Lesson

    Activity 3

    This lesson continues our look at homonyms. 

    Take for example the word fast

    How many different meanings and word classes can you think of?

    Look at these two sentences: 

    1. Katie works very fast
    2. Katie is a fast worker.

    They have very similar meanings, but in one sentence fast is an adverb and in the other an adjective.

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    Hyponymy (Stein)

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Show the learners the list of three nouns. Ask them to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. 

    After a couple of minutes, reveal the focus of the lesson in the next slide: how nouns can relate to each other by being more general or specific. Use the example to demonstrate. Ask learners if they can think of any other examples. Don't worry if they struggle at this point, as they will see more throughout the lesson. 

    Ask learners to make notes on the new terminology, beacuse they will need it for the other activities. 

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    Hyponymy (Stein)

    Lesson

    Activity 1

    Look at these three nouns.

    What is the relationship between them? Can they be arranged into a logical order? 

    • dog
    • poodle
    • animal

    We can label nouns as general or specific. The specific noun is included in the general noun.

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    Metaphor (Stein)

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Check your learners' prior knowledge by asking them to discuss the meaning of the term metaphor and to give examples. This can be done individually, and then check in small groups and/or whole class.

    Use the next slide to confirm the learners' answers. Next, ask if the learners can think of any other animal metaphors such as sly fox. Ask learners to share their ideas with each other and the whole class.

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    Metaphor (Stein)

    Lesson

    Activity 1

    What does the term metaphor mean?

    Can you think of an example? 

    A metaphor is when a word or phrase is used to suggest a resemblance to a another thing or action. 

    A metaphor uses language in a figurative sense. 

    When we call someone a sly fox we are implying that their behaviour is similar to a fox i.e. sneaky or crafty. 

    What other animal metaphors can you think of? 

    »

    No 'AND's

    In this lesson, students build a story without the word and.

    Goals

    • Recognise the uses and meaning of the word and.
    • Become more conscious of our own use of the word and.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will tell a story. There's only one rule: no one is allowed to use the word and.

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    Noun identification

    In this activity, students work through the criteria for identifying nouns.

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    Noun identification: Activity 1

    Which words do you think are nouns?

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    Noun identification: Activity 2

    I'll see you on Thursday.

    Is Thursday a noun?

    • Does it represent a person, place, thing or idea?
    • Can it be singular or plural? Can you say one ___ and two ___s?
    • Can it be possessive? Can you add 's or ' at the end?
    • Can it follow the or a?
    • Can it be replaced with a pronoun like it, he, she, or they?

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    Noun phrase generator

    Try this noun phrase generator in class. Your students will enjoy creating weird and funny noun phrases using the interactive whiteboard.

    Goals

    • Create some new noun phrases.
    • Examine what can and can't happen in noun phrases.
    • Evaluate example noun phrases, looking at why they do or don't work.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will be generating noun phrases. 

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    Noun phrase generator: Activity

    Use the interactive whiteboard to generate weird and wonderful noun phrases. 

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    Nouns and only nouns

    Students are asked to communicate using a bank of nouns - and nothing else.

    Goals

    • Communicate with a partner using only nouns.
    • Discuss what can and can't be easily expressed using only nouns.
    • Determine which other types of words are useful for expressing complex ideas.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that this activity will involve you trying to express progressively more complicated concepts and actions to a partner using only these words, your own body language and imagination.

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    Nouns and vocabulary

    Lesson

    Objective

    To explore the meaning of simple, everyday nouns, and how they relate to your experience of the world.

    Activity 1

    Look at this list of nouns: chair, fork, dog, house, person, football player

    What do they all have in common?

    »

    Nouns and Vocabulary (Stein)

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Show the leaners the the list of nouns. After hearing their ideas, explain what concrete nouns are, and ask leaners if they can see or find any other examples in the classroom. Explain what abstract nouns are and ask for any other examples. 

    Next, ask the learners to work in pairs and small groups. Copy down the table and decide which nouns are concrete or abstract. Check the answers as a whole class. 

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    Playing with person

    In this exercise, students make changes to pronouns in texts, and evaluate the effects of those changes.

    Goals

    • Identify first, second, and third person pronouns, and practise switching from one to another.
    • Evaluate the effects of writing using different personal pronouns.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will make changes to existing texts by changing the personal pronouns in those texts.

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    Playing with person: Activity

    I’m sitting here looking out of the window. Nothing’s happening; it never does. I sit here every day for hours on end, just looking. Looking for what? I don’t know. They never told me what I should be looking for. And I’ve never found out.

    I once thought I’d found something, but I couldn’t be sure. It might just have been a trick of the light. How was I to tell?

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    Polysemy (Stein)

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Explain that the word polysemy refers to the idea that words can have more than one meaning.

    Ask the learners to think of more than one meaning for the words football and mouse and discuss with a partner or small group. Show the next slide to reveal some possible answers.

    As an extension, see if learners can come up with any other words with multiple meanings. 

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    Polysemy (Stein)

    Lesson

    Objective

    To understand how polysemy applies to different word classes.

    Activity 1

    Some words may have only one meaning, but most tend to have more.

    Let's take for example the words football and mouse.

    How many meanings can you think of for each? 

    football can mean:

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    Prefixes in adjectives

    In this lesson, students will look at some common prefixes that can be added to adjectives and see how they change meanings.

    Goals

    • Identify some common prefixes in adjectives.
    • Describe the meanings contributed by common adjective prefixes.
    • Experiment with acceptable and unacceptable prefixes for particular adjectives.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will look at adjectives with distinctive prefixes.

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    Subject-Verb Agreement

    In this lesson, students select the correct verb to compose an acceptable sentence.

    Goals

    • Practise composing sentences with appropriate Subject-Verb agreement.
    • Identify acceptable patterns in Standard English.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will select the correct verb on the smart board, to construct acceptable sentences.

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    Subject-Verb Agreement: 'Be' verbs

    Telephones
    are
    is
    am
    really weird.

    »
    »

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