Part and whole

Objective

To explore the way that nouns can point to parts and wholes of things.

Activity 1

Read the five sentences below: what do the words in blue have in common?

1. The hunter proudly showed them the antlers he had collected. 
2. The fins are used for swimming and for keeping balance.
3. The udder looked very heavy. 
4. We wanted to know how the hump had evolved.
5. The long trunk pushed the grass into the mouth.

Each word is a noun which refers to a part of a different animal:

• antlers with male deer, 
• fins with a fish, 
• udder with a cow, 
• hump with a camel and 
• trunk with an elephant.

There are many words which denote a part of something, and the more we know the parts of an object by name, the more we understand their nature, what they are for and how they work.

Activity 2

Thing we see in everyday life can be broken down into their parts. For example, think about a person's face. 

Draw a picture of a face. Think of and label as many parts of the face as you can; then, compare with a partner. 

Activity 3

Read the five sentences with a missing word. Work out what each noun forms a part of. 

E.g. A stone is a part of a cherry.

Choose three words from this list of seven objects and write down as many part nouns as you can think of. Compare with a partner and see who can think of more! 

1. book
2. car
3. house
4. computer
5. classroom
6. shoe
7. flower

This lesson is adapted (with permission) from Words and Meanings: A Systematic Guide for the Teaching of English Vocabulary, by Gabriele Stein.

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