Year 6 - English
Using hyphens to create adjectives
Letter strings, etymology and curriculum words
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils review and learn a wide range of Year 6 spellings, including letter strings, words with the suffixes -ant, -ance, -ent, -ence, -able and -ible, silent letters, French and Greek origin words, curriculum words and words that use the hyphen in two ways.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to identify when to use a hyphen to create adjectives.
Key Notes
- A hyphen can be used to join a modifier to an adjective to make one adjective, e.g. well-dressed.
- A hyphen can be used to join two or more words that are functioning as one adjective.
- How to spell the curriculum words: familiar and opportunity.
Vocabulary To Learn
- hyphen: a punctuation mark that can join two words to make one compound adjective
- compound adjective: an adjective formed of two hyphenated words
- modifier: a word or phrase that provides additional information or describes an adjective or adverb
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Pupils might assume any combination of words can create a compound adjective.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
A hyphen can be used to join a modifier to an adjective to make one adjective, e.g. well-dressed. A hyphen can be used to join two or more words that are functioning as one adjective.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'hyphen'
a punctuation mark that can join two words to make one compound adjective.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Pupils might assume any combination of words can create a compound adjective. Correction: Look at some non-examples such as 'blood-paced' and 'fast-splattered' to teach them that not every combination makes a compound adjective.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Recognising the different sounds made by the letter strings 'ough' and 'au' Study Guide
- Recognising the different sounds made by the letter strings "ou", "ear" and "ice" Study Guide
- Spelling key curriculum words Study Guide
- Spelling words from the Y5/6 curriculum list Study Guide
- Spelling words with French etymology Study Guide
- Spelling words with Greek and Latin etymology Study Guide
- Spelling words with the -able suffix Study Guide
- Spelling words with the -ible suffix Study Guide
- Spelling words with the 'ee' sound spelt 'ei' Study Guide
- Spelling words with the 'ee' sound spelt 'ie' Study Guide
- Spelling words with the silent letters 'b', 'k', 'g', 'w' and 't' Study Guide
- Spelling words with the silent letters 'h', 'p', 'n', 'l' and 's' Study Guide
- Spelling words with the suffixes -ant and -ance Study Guide
- Spelling words with the suffixes -ent and -ence Study Guide
- Using hyphens to join prefixes to root words Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 6 English guide library.