Year 3 English Word classes: check-up and practice test questions

Method. Find the name of the place.

1. Look at the nouns. Mia, London and mum are nouns.
   Mia, London, mum
2. Find the place name. London is the name of a city, and it starts with a capital letter.
   London
3. Write the answer.
   London

Check. London names a place. ✓

Watch out. Mum has a small letter because it is a common noun here.

Method. Find the job of barked in the sentence, then name its word class.

1. Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.
   Yesterday the dog barked at the postman.
2. Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.
   Ask what barked shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
3. Write the answer.
   verb

Check. Check the job of barked once more in the sentence. ✓

Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.

Method. Replace the noun phrase with the pronoun that stands for it.

1. Find the words to replace. A dog is an animal, so it stands in its place.
   The dog is hungry.
2. Write the answer.
   It is hungry.

Check. Read the new sentence aloud: it still makes sense. ✓

Watch out. A pronoun must match the noun it replaces.

Method. Find the word that comes before the noun coat.

1. Look at coat. Coat is the noun.
   coat
2. Find the word before it. His comes before the noun coat and says whose coat it is.
   his coat
3. Write the answer.
   his

Check. His comes before coat. ✓

Watch out. His before a noun is a determiner.

Method. Choose a or an by the first sound of the next word.

1. Look at the first sound of the word. The article depends on the first sound, not on the first letter.
   honest: The h is silent, so the first sound is the vowel sound at the start of on.
2. Choose the article. Use an before a vowel sound, and a before a consonant sound.
   an honest
3. Write the answer.
   an

Check. Read the phrase aloud: an honest. ✓

Watch out. Say a unicorn, not an unicorn. Say an hour, not a hour.

Method. Find the word that joins two parts.

1. Look at the two parts. We can play outside and it is raining.
   two parts
2. Find the joining word. But sits between the two parts.
   but
3. Write the answer.
   but

Check. But joins the two parts. ✓

Watch out. But shows a difference between the two parts.

Method. Ask when the dog barked.

1. Look at each word. Yesterday tells when the dog barked.
   yesterday
2. Check the others. The dog and postman are nouns, and barked is a verb.
   nouns and verb
3. Write the answer.
   Yesterday

Check. Yesterday answers the question when? ✓

Watch out. Yesterday is an adverb of time.

Method. Find the one word that is a preposition.

1. Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.
   The rabbit hopped across the lawn.
2. Find the word that is a preposition. Only one word in this sentence does this job.
   across is a preposition
3. Write the answer.
   across

Check. Read the sentence again and check across. ✓

Watch out. A preposition is followed by a noun or a pronoun: under the table, after lunch.

Method. Check which word again describes.

1. Look at again. Again tells when or how often the cat yawned, so it is an adverb.
   yawned again
2. Look at sleepy. Sleepy describes the noun cat, so sleepy is the adjective.
   sleepy cat
3. Write the answer.
   No. Again tells how often the cat yawned, so it is an adverb. Sleepy is the adjective.

Check. Again describes the verb, not the noun. ✓

Watch out. Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe verbs.

Method. Check whether a noun follows the word.

1. Look at mine. No noun follows mine, so it stands in place of the noun.
   the bag is mine
2. Look at my. My comes before the noun bag and says whose bag it is.
   my bag
3. Write the answer.
   Mine stands alone in place of a noun, so it is a pronoun. My comes before the noun bag, so it is a determiner.

Check. The noun after the word decides its class. ✓

Watch out. The same owner word can be a pronoun or a determiner.

Method. Find the job of carefully in the sentence, then name its word class.

1. Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.
   Ben always walks carefully.
2. Ask the test question. An adverb tells us how, when, where or how often something happens.
   Ask how, when, where or how often. carefully answers one of these questions about the verb, so it is an adverb.
3. Write the answer.
   adverb

Check. Check the job of carefully once more in the sentence. ✓

Watch out. An adverb often ends in -ly, but not always: here, soon and often do not.

Method. An adjective describes a noun.

1. Look at cat. Cat is the noun, and sleepy describes it.
   sleepy cat
2. Check the other words. Yawned is a verb and again is an adverb.
   sleepy
3. Write the answer.
   sleepy

Check. Sleepy describes the cat. ✓

Watch out. Sleepy comes before the noun it describes.

Method. A verb tells what someone or something does.

1. Look at each word. Bird and fence are nouns. Over is a preposition.
   bird, fence, over
2. Find the action. Flew tells what the bird did.
   flew
3. Write the answer.
   flew

Check. Flew is the action word. ✓

Watch out. Flew is the past tense of fly.

Method. A pronoun takes the place of a noun.

1. Look at each word. Give is a verb, the is a determiner, ball is a noun, and to is a preposition.
   give, the, ball, to
2. Find the pronoun. Him takes the place of a person, and it comes after the preposition to.
   him
3. Write the answer.
   him

Check. Him stands in place of a person. ✓

Watch out. Him comes after to.

Method. Find the job of big in the sentence, then name its word class.

1. Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.
   The university is in a big city.
2. Ask the test question. An adjective tells us more about a noun.
   Put very in front: very big makes sense. big describes a noun, so it is an adjective.
3. Write the answer.
   adjective

Check. Check the job of big once more in the sentence. ✓

Watch out. An adjective describes a noun. It does not describe a verb.

Method. Choose the article by the first sound of each word.

1. Uniform. Uniform starts with the y sound at the start of you, a consonant sound, so use a.
   a uniform
2. Egg. Egg starts with a vowel sound, so use an.
   an egg
3. Write the answer.
   a uniform, an egg

Check. Say each phrase aloud. ✓

Watch out. Look at the first sound, not the first letter.

Method. Find one word of each kind.

1. Pronoun. He takes the place of a noun.
   He
2. Determiner. His comes before the noun bag.
   his bag
3. Preposition. Under is followed by the noun phrase the bench.
   under the bench
4. Write the answer.
   Any correct sentence, for example: He put his bag under the bench.

Check. The sentence has one of each kind of word. ✓

Watch out. Check each word against its test.

Method. Check the job of each word.

1. Happily. Happily tells how, so it is an adverb.
   happily: adverb
2. Mia. Mia is the name of a person, so it is a noun.
   Mia: noun
3. She. She takes the place of a noun, so it is a pronoun.
   she: pronoun
4. Although. Although joins two parts of a sentence, so it is a conjunction.
   although: conjunction
5. Write the answer.
   happily: adverb; Mia: noun; she: pronoun; although: conjunction

Check. Each word passes its test. ✓

Watch out. Check the job of each word, not its first letter.

Method. Check what the word joins.

1. Look at so. So sits between it was late and we ran.
   it was late / we ran
2. Check the job. A conjunction joins two parts, so so is a conjunction here. It does not tell when.
   so: conjunction
3. Write the answer.
   No. So joins two parts: it was late and we ran. It is a conjunction, not an adverb.

Check. So joins the two parts of the sentence. ✓

Watch out. So is a conjunction when it joins a reason to a result.

Method. Check the job of each word.

1. Mia and lunch. Mia is a name, and lunch is a thing: both are nouns.
   Mia: noun; lunch: noun
2. Quickly. Quickly tells how Mia ate, so it is an adverb.
   quickly: adverb
3. Ate. Ate tells what Mia did, so it is a verb.
   ate: verb
4. Her. Her comes before the noun lunch and says whose lunch it is, so it is a determiner.
   her: determiner
5. Write the answer.
   Mia: noun; quickly: adverb; ate: verb; her: determiner; lunch: noun

Check. Each word has one word class. ✓

Watch out. The word her is a determiner here, because lunch follows it.