Words do different jobs in a sentence. Nouns name things (dog, school), verbs are doing words (run, eat) and adjectives describe nouns (fluffy, tall). Knowing these jobs helps children build better sentences.
What your child will learn
- Recognise nouns as naming words
- Recognise verbs as doing or being words
- Recognise adjectives as describing words
- Find each word type inside a sentence
A quick test for each job
Can you put “the” or “a” in front of it? It is probably a noun (a dog, the school). Can you do it? It is probably a verb (I run, I eat). Does it tell you what something is like? It is an adjective (a fluffy cat).
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. Which word is a noun?
- school
- loudly
- write
- bright
Show answer
Answer: school. “School” names a place.
2. Which word is a noun?
- slowly
- red
- eat
- apple
Show answer
Answer: apple. “Apple” names a thing.
3. Which word is an adjective?
- giraffe
- walk
- tall
- tree
Show answer
Answer: tall. “Tall” describes how something looks.
Tips for grown-ups
- Play “noun, verb, adjective”: one person says a word, the other names its job.
- Add adjectives to a plain sentence together: “The dog barked” → “The small, muddy dog barked.”