Rebecca: I'm Rebecca, I'm a tutor at Morley College at Beck, in Rotherhithe in South London and I work with adults of all ages who want to improve their literacy skills.
When we talk about words, we talk about different types of words, say for example, some words are the names of things, for example, picture, London, table.
Other words describe things, so these are words like small, big, fast, slow and there are other words which show the action.
So these are words like talk, move, cook.
Knowledge of word types can make our writing better, for example, if you were writing a personal profile for a job, and you were to include adjectives in that profile, then your personal profile would become more descriptive and the employer would have a better idea of the person who he is employing.
So, for instance, instead of writing, "I've worked as a security guard," you could change that to "I have worked as a reliable hard-working security guard, for a successful security firm."
And obviously this sounds much better.
Knowing the different types of words, like verbs and adverbs, nouns, adjectives and connectives, can improve your writing.
Quick tips for tutors
What are word types? includes:
- How to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, connectives, pronouns and prepositions
- How to use nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, connectives, pronouns and prepositions
Downloadable Factsheets
Entry 3 - Word types
An introduction to word types.
Level 1 - Understanding word types
Identifying and understanding the use of different word types.
Downloadable Worksheets
Entry 3 - Using different word types
Exercise in using different word types.
Entry 3 - Identifying word types
Exercise in identifying word types.
Level 1 - Identifying verbs and nouns
Exercise in identifying verbs and nouns.
