WORKSHEET

2 Word families

QUIZ

Look at the list marked Parts of Speech on the inside front cover of your dictionary. Mark the
parts of speech in the sentence below as in the example.
Example:

indefinite adj. n. v. adv. prep. definite n.

article article
An old man walked quickly towards the house.

The brave girl swam across a broad river.

W o r k s h e e tt

A word can have more than one function. For example, it can act as a noun (I need more practice) and a verb
(I practice the piano every day).

A L
 ook at the word in bold. What is its function in the sentence?
Underline its part of speech.

1. I was sitting at the back of the cinema. noun / adjective / adverb

2. They came in through the back door of the house. noun / adjective / adverb
3. She walked back into the shop. noun / adjective / adverb
4. Can you book a hotel for me? noun / verb
5. She borrowed a book about astronomy. noun / verb
6. My apartment is close to the new mall. adverb / verb / adjective
7. I can’t close the trunk of my car. adverb / verb / adjective
8. They are sitting close together. adverb / verb / adjective
9. My brother-in-law is a cook in a restaurant. noun / verb
10. What are you going to cook for dinner? noun / verb

Word families
A group of related words is called a word family. Sometimes the words in a family look alike, as in Be sure to back up
your file and Watch your back, but often they do not, as in He plays on defense and A goal keeper defends the goal
and She’s very defensive.
When you learn a new word, it is a good idea to learn other functions and forms of the word, the other members of its
word family.
Look at the words in this family.

anger n. angry adj. angrily adv.

He needs to learn how to control his anger.

He gets angry too easily.
He reacts angrily to any criticism.

Longman Dictionary of American English page 1 of 2

 WORKSHEET

2 Word families

B Find and write the related words.

1. invite v. invitation n.

2. perform v. n.

3. hair n. adj.

4. hunger n. adj.

5. imagine v. adj.

6. introduce v. n.

7. permit v. n.

8. prepare v. n.

9. know v. n.

10. photograph n. adj.

Longman Dictionary of American English page 2 of 2