Year 3 English · Word classes · Summary
Year 3 English Word classes: summary and key words
Part of the Year 3 English word classes chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
Chapter summary
| Skill | Method |
|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing, animal or idea. Test: can the go in front? Proper nouns start with a capital letter: Mia, London. |
| Verb | Shows an action or a state: jumps, was, have. Test: does it tell what someone does, is or has? Verbs can change to show time. |
| Adjective | Describes a noun: tall, green, sleepy. Test: can very go in front? |
| Adverb | Tells how, when, where or how often: quickly, yesterday, here, always. Test: does it answer how?, when?, where? or how often? |
| Pronoun | Takes the place of a noun: he, them, it, mine. Test: can a noun replace it? |
| Preposition | Shows where, when or how things are related: under, behind, during, into. Test: is it followed by a noun or pronoun? |
| Conjunction | Joins words, phrases or sentences: and, but, or, so, because, although. Test: does it join two parts? |
| Determiner | Comes before a noun and says which one or how many: the, a, an, my, those, every. Test: does a noun follow? |
| a or an | Use an before a vowel sound (an hour, an egg); use a before a consonant sound (a unicorn, a dog). Choose by the first sound. |
Can you…?
- I can name the word class of a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb
- I can name the word class of a pronoun, a preposition, a conjunction and a determiner
- I can use a simple test to check the word class of a word in its sentence
- I can tell that the same word can have different word classes in different sentences
- I can choose a or an by the first sound of the next word
- I can find the word class of each word in a sentence
Key terms
- word class
- the job a word does in a sentence, such as noun, verb or adjective
- noun
- a naming word for a person, place, thing, animal or idea
- proper noun
- the name of a particular person or place, which starts with a capital letter, such as Mia or London
- verb
- a doing or being word, which tells what someone or something does, is or has
- adjective
- a describing word, which tells more about a noun, such as tall
- adverb
- a word that tells how, when, where or how often, such as quickly or here
- pronoun
- a word that takes the place of a noun, such as he, them or mine
- preposition
- a word that shows where, when or how things are related, such as under or during
- conjunction
- a joining word that connects two words, phrases or sentences, such as and, but or because
- determiner
- a word that comes before a noun and says which one or how many, such as the, a, my or every
- vowel sound
- the sound at the start of up, egg, on, eye or owl; a and an depend on it