Word classes: a guide for Year 6
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, determiners and conjunctions. The SATs expect children to name the word class of a word in a real sentence, which is harder than learning definitions. Here's how to teach it.
What is a word class?
A word class (sometimes called a part of speech) is the job a word does in a sentence. The SATs use eight: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, determiner and conjunction. Children also need to understand the subject and object of a sentence, because several word-class questions depend on them.
The key idea for Year 6 is that a word's class depends on how it is used, not on the word itself. Play is a noun in We watched a play and a verb in We play outside. A child who has memorised “play is a verb” will get one of those wrong. Every word-class question in the SATs gives the word inside a sentence for exactly this reason.
The eight word classes at a glance
| Word class | Its job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing or idea | teacher, Bristol, anchor, freedom |
| Verb | Shows an action, state or process | run, is, seemed, has finished |
| Adjective | Describes a noun | gigantic, old, salty |
| Adverb | Adds to a verb, adjective, adverb or clause | quickly, soon, very, often |
| Pronoun | Stands in place of a noun | she, them, mine, who |
| Preposition | Links a noun to another word, often by place or time | under, after, during, despite |
| Determiner | Comes before a noun to say which or how many | the, a, those, my, three, every |
| Conjunction | Joins words, phrases or clauses | and, but, because, although |
Nouns, including the hard ones
Children find concrete nouns easy and abstract nouns hard. Anchor is obviously a noun; loyalty, decision and sorrow are less obvious because you can't picture them. Two quick tests help: can you put the or a in front of it, and can you make it plural?
- Freedom mattered more than comfort.Two abstract nouns: you can say the freedom, a comfort.
- Sorrow filled the empty house.
Verbs, including the quiet ones
Action verbs are easy to spot. The ones children miss are verbs of being (is, was, seemed, became) and helping verbs in verb phrases (has finished, was running). A reliable test is to change the tense of the sentence: the word that changes is the verb.
- The soup seemed too salty.Change the tense (The soup seems…) and the verb shows itself.
- She has finished her homework.Underline both words: they make one verb phrase.
Adjectives or adverbs?
Ask which word is being described. If it's a noun, the describing word is an adjective. If it's a verb, an adjective or a whole clause, it's an adverb. This beats the “-ly means adverb” shortcut, which fails for friendly, lovely and lonely (all adjectives) and misses adverbs like soon, often and very.
Look out for adjectives that come after the verb (The sky was grey). They describe the noun even though they're nowhere near it, and children often skip them.
Pronouns and possessive pronouns
Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition: Sam lost his bag, so he searched for it. Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) stand alone and never take an apostrophe. They are different from possessive determiners (my, your, their), which sit in front of a noun:
- This is my coat.my is a determiner: a noun follows it.
- This coat is mine.mine is a pronoun: it stands on its own.
- The decision was their's.Possessive pronouns never have an apostrophe: theirs.
Prepositions, conjunctions and determiners
These three cause the most trouble in the SATs because children have rarely had to name them.
Prepositions link a noun or pronoun to the rest of the sentence: under the table, after lunch, despite the rain. Some words, such as after, before and since, can be prepositions or conjunctions. Look at what follows: a noun phrase means preposition, a clause with its own verb means conjunction.
- We left after lunch.Preposition: followed by a noun.
- We left after we had eaten.Conjunction: followed by a clause with a verb.
Determiners come before a noun and tell you which one or how many. Articles (a, an, the) are determiners, but so are this, those, my, some, every and numbers. Children often call them adjectives. The difference is that a determiner specifies rather than describes: in those three old books, those and three are determiners and old is an adjective. Choosing a or an depends on the first sound, not the first letter: an hour, a unicorn.
Subject and object
The subject does the verb; the object has the verb done to it. In The dog chased the ball, the dog is the subject and the ball is the object. Children who think the subject is always the first word go wrong with sentences like Yesterday, the storm damaged the roof, where the subject is the storm. Ask “who or what did the verb?” to find the subject, and “who or what did it happen to?” to find the object. This is also the foundation for the active and passive voice.
How word classes are tested in the SATs
- Circle or underline every word of a given class in a sentence, such as “Circle the two nouns”. Read the instruction carefully: the number tells you how many to find.
- Tick one to say which class a word belongs to in context.
- Same word, different jobs: a word appears in two sentences and children say which class it is in each.
- Choose the correct word, such as a or an, or the right pronoun.
Common mistakes
- Deciding the class before reading the sentence.
- Calling every -ly word an adverb.
- Labelling determiners and numbers as adjectives.
- Missing verbs of being and the helping verb in a verb phrase.
- Stopping at the first noun when the question asks for two.
Teaching ideas
Swap test
Give a sentence with one word underlined. Children try swapping in a word they know is a noun, a verb or an adjective. The swap that keeps the sentence working usually reveals the word class.
Colour-code a sentence
Pupils write a sentence on a mini whiteboard and colour each word by class, using a fixed colour key. Pairs check each other's and argue about any disagreements, which is where the learning happens.
One word, two jobs
Give children words like light, round, play and fast. They write two sentences for each, using the word as a different class each time.
Retrieval starters
Two or three word-class questions at the start of a lesson, mixing classes, keep everything secure in the run-up to the SATs. The worksheets below give you ready-made questions in SATs style.
Try it: five quick questions
SATs-style questions to use as a starter or a quick check. Tap to see each answer.
Circle the two nouns: Their argument lasted all afternoon.
Show answer
argument and afternoon
What word class is after in We left after lunch?
Show answer
A preposition: it is followed by a noun, not a clause.
Underline the determiners: Those three old books belong to my sister.
Show answer
Those, three and my
What word class is fast in She ran fast?
Show answer
An adverb: it tells us how she ran.
Which word is the subject? Yesterday, the storm damaged the roof.
Show answer
the storm: it did the damaging.
Free worksheets for this topic
Printable A4 PDFs with answers. Free to use in class or at home.
