Types of word – Grouping different word classes

Now that we’re familiar with the different types of words that exist in the English language, it
can be useful to understand how they’re often classified into two groups – major words and
minor words.

Major/content/lexical (or open) word class

There are five types of words included in the major (often referred to as “lexical” or “open”)
class.

Major (open) words types:

 Verbs
 Nouns
 Adjectives
 Adverbs
 Interjections
They are termed major, content, or lexical because they carry most of the content or meaning
of a sentence. They are also called open because new words can still be added to these
classes.

Minor or grammatical (or closed) word class

There are four types of words included in the minor (often referred to as “closed”) class.

Minor (closed) words types:

 Conjunctions
 Determiners
 Prepositions
 Pronouns
 content/ structure words

Word type: Example: Teaching tips:

Nouns:
Pen/pencil
Naming words used
Home/street Use concrete objects –
for things, places,
Girl/boy realia, pictures etc.
people or ideas.
Love/hate

Pronouns: I/we/you/she/he/it/they Start with introducing

people and possessions.
Word type: Example: Teaching tips:

Used in place of
nouns, referring to
things previously
identified in
conversation.

Verbs:
Use visual
Describe an action or Eat, sleep, jump, watch.
demonstrations, and start
state. Think, feel, daydream.
with the present tense.

Adjectives: Start with learning

Red, blue, yellow
Used for describing colors, or giving basic
Hot, cold, windy
nouns. descriptions of
Pretty, ugly, expensive.
previously learned nouns.

Prepositions:
Used to express Use objects and ask
In, on, under, behind, in
relationships between where certain objects are
front of.
other words. in relation to others.

Conjunctions:
Used to join together
Have students compile
sentences, ideas,
lists of objects using
phrases or clauses.
‘and’ or alternatives to
These can be split And, if, but, or, for.
someone else’s suggested
into coordinating or
objects using ‘or’ or
subordinating
‘but’.
conjunctions.

Adverbs: Very, thoroughly (degree)

Introduce activities and
Describe the manner, Here, there (place)
then use ‘how’, ‘when’
time, degree or place Badly, wonderfully
and ‘where’ to get your
in which a verb is (manner)
students to describe the
done. Later, earlier, tomorrow
actions further.
(time)

Interjections: Oh dear, uh oh, huh. Pair facial expressions,

Small comments that emotions or actions with
have specific suitable interjections.
meanings usually
 Word type: Example: Teaching tips:

caused by strong
emotions.

Use questions involving

Determiners:
Placed before nouns
to help show which
noun is being referred
to.
“which” and “how
many”, then have
The, an, that, this, those,
students reply. Highlight
many, ten, another.
the different determiners
that could be used in their
replies.

Grouping modal verbs by theme:

💪 Ability – teach can and its past tense, could, as in “I couldn’t play the piano but now I
can.”

👮 Permission – teach can and may, as in “Can I/ May I open a window?”

🔮 Possibility – introduce could, may, might and will as a way to talk about possibilities or

certainties in the future. 

🧭 Obligation – discuss the difference between could, should and must and compare how

strongly the speaker feels. “You could ask the doctor about your rash”, “You should ask the
doctor about your rash” and “You must ask the doctor about your rash” all have a different
sense of urgency.

Verb
Description: Examples:
type:

Verbs that
express
Action
physical or Speak, play, work, eat, go.
verbs
mental
actions.

Verbs that
Stative Like, hate, want, see, hear, believe, imagine, and 
describe a
verbs appreciate.
state of being.

Transitiv Verbs that  I love puppies /  love ice cream / I love my

e verbs require an mother.
object to
Verb
Description: Examples:
type:

make sense.

Verbs that do
not need
Intransiti
direct objects She laughed / we talked.
ve verbs
to complete
their meaning.

Verbs used in
forming the
tenses, moods,
and voices of
Auxiliary other verbs. He is reading a book.
verbs The I have never seen Star Wars.
primary auxili
ary verbs are
“be”, “do”,
and “have”.

A kind of
auxiliary verb
Modal used to Can, could, might, may, must, should, shall, will, 
verbs express and would.
necessity or
possibility.

Verbs made
up of several
words used
together,
Phrasal
usually a verb Take off, look into, get away with, or put up with.
verbs
combined
with an
adverb or
preposition.

Verbs that
follow Want/wanted
Regular
standard Play/played
verbs
patterns of Talk/talked
inflection.

Irregular Verbs that do Eat/ate/eaten

verbs not follow See/saw/seen
 Verb
Description: Examples:
type:

standard
patterns of
inflection – Know/knew/known
changing with
tense.

Prefix Meaning Example:

mis wrongly, incorrectly misunderstand, misheard.

multi many multitool, multicultural.

pre before predetermined, precede, preview.

re again relive, revisit, realign.

Suffix Meaning Example:

able ability likeable, doable.

dom a state freedom, boredom.

less lacking, without voiceless, meaningless.

en change state, become broaden, harden.

Rough negative prefix rules:

Words starting with ‘l’ have the prefix ‘il’ – illegal, illegible
Words starting with ‘r’ use the prefix ‘ir’ – irrelevant, irresponsible
Words starting with ‘m’, ‘b’ or ‘p’ use ‘im’ – impatient,  immature, imbalance

First, students should know that unlike prefixes, suffixes can change the spelling of the
original word. This can often make it difficult for students to pick out the base word from
the suffix itself.

For example:
Beauty + ‘ful’ = beautiful
Second, similar to prefixes, not all suffixes can be applied to all base words. However,
with suffixes there’s less of a structure to which words can take which suffixes, and your
students will have to learn and memorize these on a word-by-word basis.
Third, each suffix can have a different meaning depending on what type of word it is
attached to, and these will also have to be memorized.

For example:
‘er’ + big = bigger (more big)
But
‘er’ + train = trainer (someone who trains)

Techniques for teaching affixes

Once your students understand what affixes are, you can use some of the following
techniques to help your class practice using them.

💡 Useful techniques:

• Draw attention to affixes when they come up naturally in your lessons. By breaking words
down into their different parts, students will start to analyze words for themselves and build a
greater understanding of how specific affixes are used.

• Divide students into groups, then give each group a pile of word cards and a chart with three
columns. Each group should work together to cut the words apart, into their root, suffix, and
prefix, and arrange them in the appropriate columns.

• Put a number of cards face down on the table. Each card should have a word that your
students know well and can be combined with a suffix or prefix that they also know. Then
have students take it in turns to pick a card and say the word on its underside, but with an
affix added. If correct, they get to keep the card or gain a point.

• Introduce a specific prefix or suffix and help your students to build a ‘word tree’ by listing
all the different words which can use this affix. This can be turned into a competition by
splitting the class into groups, and having them compete to create the tree with the most
correct words.

One school of thought surrounding this dilemma is to consider commas, semicolons, colons,
and periods on a scale. Commas have the least impact on a sentence’s flow, and offer only a
momentary pause. Semicolons are generally read with a slightly more noticeable break
between the two clauses, colons introduce a larger pause, and periods have the largest of all
these punctuation marks.

Symbol
Punctuation: Uses: Examples:
:

Periods . Placed at the end of a I like to ski.

 Symbol
Punctuation: Uses: Examples:
:

Mr. Mrs. Ph.D.

sentence.
M.D.
In abbreviations to indicate
shortened forms.
She knocked on
the door… but
In an ellipsis to show
no one was
missing words.
home.

I like rice, eggs,

chicken, and
ham.
Used to indicate breaks
Although he
within a sentence.
Commas , enjoyed the
Separating lists of items.
movie, he didn’t
want to watch it
again.

Used to indicate that the

Question Do you like
? phrase is a question and
marks carrots?
requires an answer.

Exclamation Used to indicate heightened

! I hate you!
marks emotions.

To renew your
Used to add additional passport you’ll
information to a sentence, to need: 2 passport
Colons :
introduce a quote, or to photos, your old
introduce a list. passport, and an
envelope.

I’m tired today;

Used to connect two
Semicolons ; it was too hot to
independent clauses.
sleep last night.

Used to indicate words that

are contracted, standing in
It’s hot today.
the place of removed letters,
Apostrophes ‘ The dog’s bed.
and are also added onto the
end of words with an ‘s’ to
indicate possession.
 Symbol
Punctuation: Uses: Examples:
:

Used to surround speech in “What are you

Quotation
“” creative writing, or to doing?” He
marks
indicate direct quotes. asked.

Used to link words or parts

Hyphens – of words to give new Sugar-free soda
meanings.

En dash is primarily used to

The material is
indicate a span of time
– in chapters 7-9.
between numbers or dates.
The day was
Dashes Em dash indicates a break in
– finally over – or
speech or thought, used for
so she thought.
extra emphasis.

Someone had
Used primarily to indicate
left his/her
Slashes / the word ‘or’ without
phone in the
writing it.
room.

The party (which

Often used to add additional
was usually held
information that isn’t really
Parentheses () every year) was
vital for the sentence to be
canceled because
understandable.
of the storm.

It was the last

Usually used in technical
time their
writing or to add extra
Brackets: [] parents saw them
information that clarifies the
[the missing
situation.
girls].

students should be made aware that ‘make’ refers to creating something that wasn’t
previously there and ‘do’ refers to some type of activity.

Word roots – Teaching tips 

As there are no specific rules governing word roots, or techniques that students can apply to
identify all root words, the teaching of them will be a gradual process.

Getting started
It’s important to first make sure that students are comfortable with the basic prefixes and
suffixes covered earlier in the course. For example, the un prefix used to reverse the meaning
of certain words, and the er suffix used to turn certain verbs into nouns.

At this stage, it can be simple to introduce the fact that many of these words originated in
languages which set the foundations for English – without needing to go much deeper into
the history of English. The key here is to focus on practical knowledge.

Gradual improvements
From this base, you can gradually build your students’ understanding whenever introducing
new pieces of vocabulary.

You’ll often find certain items of vocab which give an opportunity to demonstrate the
different words which can be created by adding a unique affix, or by joining an additional
word to form a single compound word. An example here can be seen with the word ‘copy’,
where you could also introduce the variation of ‘photocopy’.

In other circumstances, you’re likely to come across certain complex words which students
might struggle to understand the meaning of. These words can provide opportunities for you
to dissect the word on the whiteboard, to explain its different sections. Common examples
here include the words ‘autobiography’, ‘television’, and ‘omnipotent’. These can seem like
complicated and abstract words to students, but their different parts actually reveal a lot about
their meaning.

Activities for practice

As students progress further, and build up more vocabulary, they’ll start to develop a mental
picture of different word families from common roots. 

From here, you can base whole activities around word roots. 

One such activity can be to split your class into groups, and give each group several root
words. Then, give the groups 3 minutes to create as many new words as possible using their
roots. At the end of the time, the students with the most correct words would be declared the
winners. You’ll find that it’s usually teenage and even adult students which start to learn
about word roots, and this type of activity can work surprisingly well for both age groups as
there’s a competitive element without things getting too out of control. 

For younger students, a fun and collaborative alternative can include making ‘word trees’.
These involve writing down different root words on a sheet of paper and drawing branches
for each possible word which can be formed, similar to a family tree. The great part about
this activity is that it not only helps students to visualize the links between these words, but
they’ll also get a drawing which they can take home after the class.

Final thoughts
Word roots can seem quite complex at first, but they’re very useful for more advanced
students. While they most likely won’t be a focus of every lesson, word roots should still be
practiced from time to time to ensure students keep them in mind, and can use them with
independent learning.

Here are some takeaway tips:

For complete beginners, it can be useful to start by simply pairing spoken and written words
with images on flashcards or objects in the classroom. However, as these students progress
you’ll soon need to introduce more structure.

Once your students are more aware of the different types of words that exist, you can use the
basic framework of introducing a word’s meaning, form, and pronunciation to help your
students really understand how to use these new words for themselves.

For more advanced students, you can start to introduce new concepts and ways of examining
words – such as through word roots and collocations.