KS2 Grammar: Same Word, Different Job (Conjunctions, Prepositions, Adverbs and Pronouns)

'What is the word class of the underlined word?' is one of the most common question types in the Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test. Often the word is one that can do several jobs. 'Before' is a preposition in 'before lunch', a subordinating conjunction in 'before we ate' and an adverb in 'I have been here before'. 'That' can be a determiner, a pronoun, a relative pronoun or a conjunction. Pupils who have learnt word classes as lists ('before is a preposition') find these questions hard. This material teaches the more reliable method used in the national curriculum glossary: decide the class from what the word is doing in the sentence.

It is based on the word-class and sentence content of the national curriculum grammar appendix and its glossary, and on the word classes, conjunctions and word-family areas of the Key Stage 2 test framework. You practise telling a preposition from a subordinating conjunction by looking at what follows the word: a noun phrase or a clause with its own verb. You learn to recognise an adverb that stands alone and to separate the co-ordinating conjunctions and, but and or from subordinating conjunctions such as because, although, when and if. You choose the right relative pronoun (who, which, whose or that) and the Standard English personal pronoun ('Sam and I went'; 'give it to Sam and me'). You also work with word families and root words: solve, solution, dissolve and insoluble belong together, but solar does not.

The quiz has twelve questions with original sentences. You pick the sentence in which a word does a given job, name the class of a word in context, choose a conjunction type, complete a sentence with a relative or personal pronoun, and find a root word or the odd one out in a word family. Every answer explains the clue that decides the word class. The flashcards summarise each test, such as 'noun after it: preposition; clause after it: conjunction', and the four jobs of 'that'. In the practice exam, the examiner asks you to name word classes, write sentences where a word does a given job and join clauses in different ways, one question at a time, with short feedback at the end. The printable written sheet asks you to write 'before' in three roles, sort uses of 'since' and 'that', join clauses in two ways, choose relative pronouns, build a word family, correct non-standard pronouns and explain your method.

The material builds on the word classes and sentence structure covered elsewhere in this category and is written for Year 6.

• Decide whether before, after, since or until is a preposition, a subordinating conjunction or an adverb from what follows it
• Distinguish co-ordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) from subordinating conjunctions
• Identify the four jobs of 'that' and choose the correct relative pronoun (who, which, whose, that)
• Use Standard English subject and object pronouns in phrases such as 'Sam and I' and 'Sam and me'
• Recognise word families and find the root word of a longer word

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the national curriculum in England: English Appendix 2 – Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation (DfE, 2013), Years 2–5 word and sentence content, and its glossary (entries for preposition, conjunction, adverb, relative clause, root word and word family), and on the Key Stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework (STA, 2016 onwards), content domain G1, G3.3, G3.4, G6.4 and G7.1.