SPAG terminology Year 2
Noun
The name of a person, place, animal or thing.
e.g. The cat sat on the mat
(The noun is cat)
The wild river flowed through the jungle.
(The noun is river)
Proper nouns
These are the name of a person or place, which
needs a capital letter.
E.g Northampton, Fred, England, Louise
Adjectives
This is a describing word. These normally describe
the colour, size, shape, feel of the noun.
There in front of him were spikey, green leaves.
(The adjectives spikey, green describing the noun
leaves)
The vibrant, colourful bird fluttered in the
midnight sky.
(The adjectives are vibrant, colourful describing
the birds and midnight describing the sky)
Verbs
These are a doing word or an action.
e.g run, skip, hop, brush
The crystal clear river was flowing quickly.
(The verb is flowing)
The dog raced down the dusty path.
(The verb is raced)
Adverbs
These are words used to describe how the verb is
happening. They often end with the suffix ly.
e.g quickly, slowly, gracefully, speedily,
magestically
The birds fluttered gracefully in the bright blue
sky.
(The adverb is gracefully, describing the verb
fluttered)
Slowly, the girl skipped down the road.
(The adverb is slowly, describing the verb skipped)
Noun phrases
These are a simple sentence containing a
description of the noun, it expand on a basic
sentence.
E.g he brought her a dress is a simple sentences
He bought her a beautiful red dress. (This is a
noun phrase)
Mum bakes cookies is a simple sentence
Mom baked tasty chocolate cookies. (This is a noun
phrase)
The phrase in bold makes it a noun phrase
Expanded noun phrase
These sentence’s include adjectives, verbs and
adverbs to describe the noun. The give you more
information about the noun.
E.g
The cute, small dog ran quickly. Instead of The
dog ran.
The garden was full of bright, colourful flowers
softly swaying in the breeze. Instead of the garden
was full of flowers.
Conjunctions
Words that join two simple, short sentences to
make a long sentence.
E.g We went to the beach and built a large
sandcastle.
Sarah put on her red coat so she could go outside
to play.
Conjunctions we use are and, but, if, so, as, when,
because, if, then.
Co-ordinating conjunction
This is a conjunction placed between words,
phrases, clauses, or sentences of equal rank, e.g.
and, but, or.
e.g – Fred loves orange juice but love lemonade.
We could see zebras at the zoo or we could see
lions.
The birds were chirping in the sky and the
butterflies were chasing each other.
Subordinating conjunctions
These are conjunctions that join a main sentence
and a clause. The clause will not always make
sense on its own without the subordinating
conjunction to extend the main sentence. The
subordinating conjunctions we use are Because,
when, if, that
e.g Terry turned the light on when it was getting
dark.
(‘Terry turned the light on’ is the sentence that
makes sense on its own. ‘It gets dark’ is the clause
that does not make sense on its own right.)
All the children liked their presents that they got
for Christmas.
(‘All the children liked their presents’ is the
sentence that makes sense on its own. ‘They got for
Christmas’ is the clause that needs the
conjunction that for it to make sense)
Lizzie likes carrots because she does not like peas.
(‘Lizzie likes carrots’ is the main sentence. ‘She
does not like peas’ is the clause that extends the
main sentence.)
I can go outside to play if it is not raining.
(the main sentence is ‘I can go outside to play’ and
he clause to extend the main sentence is ‘it is not
raining’. The clause does not make sense on its
own.)
Suffix
A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of
the word to change its meaning.
e.g run
- running
enjoy – enjoyment
happy – happiness
The suffixes we use are ly, ing, ed, ment, ness, ful
The suffix ing added to verbs into change them
into present tense. E.g hang - hanging
The suffix ed
is added to verbs to change them
into the past tense. E.g look - looked
The suffix ly is added to adjectives to change
them into adverbs e.g quick – quickly
The suffix ment is added to a verb e.g. enjoy enjoyment
The suffix ness is added to adjectives e.g happy –
happiness
The suffix ful is added to describe e.g hope –
hopeful
Homophones
These are words that sound the same but are
spelled differently. They also have different
meanings.
e.g. blew and blue
son and sun
knight and night
their and there and they’re
Sentence types:
There are four main types of sentences.
Statements
These are simple sentences punctuated with a full
stop.
e.g. the car drove quickly.
The duck was sat by the pond.
Exclamations
These are short sentences used to show excitement,
worry, anger or surprise. These start with a How or
What.
e.g. How amazing! Wow!
Questions
These ask a simple question and are punctuated
with a ?
e.g Where are we going.
Commands
These give an instruction, or something you have
to do. They can be punctuated with a full stop or
an exclamation.
E.g Get your coat. Come here now!
Contractions
These are when two words are shorten to make one
word, using an apostrophe to mark the missing
letters.
e.g.: have not – haven’t (the apostrophe is for the
missing o)
you have – you’ve (the apostrophe is for the
missing ha)
Would not – wouldn’t (the apostrophe is for the
missing o)
If you have any other questions or concerns
regarding SPAG, please do not hesitate to see a
member of the Year 2 team. We would like to thank
you again for your continued support.
Year 2.