An article is a word that introduces a noun and also limits or clarifies it. In English, the indefinite articles are: a and an; the definite article is the.
Types of Words, Phrases, and Sentences
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word. Some common abbreviations are: St. (street), Ave. (avenue), km (kilometer), and UK (United Kingdom).
An acronym is a pronounceable word that is formed using the first letters in a phrase (sometimes other parts of the words are used). Some acronyms are: RAM (which is short for “Random Access Memory”) and NIMBY (which is short for “Not In My BackYard”).
Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words. “Slithering snake” is an alliteration because both words start with the “s” sound. “Notable knight” is an alliteration because both words start with the “n” sound (even though they start with different letters).
An adjective is a word that describes something (a noun). Some adjectives are: big, cold, blue, and silly.
An adverb is a word that tells “how,” “when,” “where,” or “how much”. Some adverbs are: easily, warmly, quickly, mainly, freely, often, and unfortunately.
An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging the letters of another word. For example, spot is an anagram of post.
Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of each other. Some antonyms include: happy/sad, big/small, up/down, stop/go, wet/dry, long/short, loose/tight.
A compound word is a word made from two or more other words. For example, the word teapot is made from the words tea and pot.
A contraction is a word in which some letters have been omitted; the omitted letters are indicated by an apostrophe. For example, “do not” can be written as the contraction “don’t” and “I would” can be written as the contraction “I’d.”
A conjunction is a word that joins other words, phrases, clauses or sentences. Some conjunctions are: and, as, because, but, or, since, so, until, and while.
Homophones are words that sound like one another but have different meanings, like flower and flour.
An interjection is a word that expresses emotion. An interjection often starts a sentence but it can be contained within the sentence or can stand alone. Some interjections are oh, wow, ugh, huh, hurray, eh, and ah.
A metaphor is a way of describing something by equating it with something else. For example, “Anne is the apple of my eye.”
A noun is a type of word that represents a person, thing, or place.
Opposites are things that are very, very different from each other. Some examples of opposites are: left and right, big and small, up and down, tall and short.
A palindrome is a word, phrase or number that reads the same forward and backward. Some palindromes are: the name Bob, the number 101, and the phrase, “Madam, I’m Adam.”
Paragraph
A paragraph is one or more sentences that cover a single topic. The symbol for paragraph is ¶.
A preposition is a word that shows the spatial (space), temporal (time), or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. The words above, near, at, by, after, with and from are prepositions.
A pronoun is a substitute for a noun. Some pronouns include: I, me, she, her, he, him, it, you, they, them, etc.
A proper noun denotes a specific person, place, or thing that has a name and is capitalized (like Tom, Delaware, or the Titanic).
A proverb is a short saying that tells a commonly-known truth.
Punctuation marks are symbols that are used in sentences and phrases to make the meaning clearer. Some punctuation marks are the period (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation point (!), colon (:) and semicolon(;).
Quote
When you quote someone, you relay exactly what they said or wrote.
Words that rhyme have endings that sound the same, like cat and hat, or kite and light.
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words that is a statement, question, exclamation, or command.
A simile is a way of describing something by comparing it to something else, often using the word “like” or “as.” For example, “He is as brave as a lion” or “busy as a bee.”
A symbol is a mark or sign that stands for something else. For example, the symbol & means and.
Synonyms are words that have almost the same meaning, like the words car and automobile.
A verb is a type of word that describes an action or a state of being, like wiggle, walk, run, jump, be, do, have, or think.
A word is a sequence of letters that means something.