What does gender mean?
Word: Gender
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Gender means in grammar, the group a noun or pronoun belongs to: masculine, feminine, common or neuter. The word is also used for whether a person is male or female.
How do you spell gender?
Syllables: gen - der
Tricky part: The g is soft and sounds like j, which is why some students write jender.
Watch out for: jender, gendre, genda
Memory tip: Picture the letter g wearing a j costume: it sounds like j, but in gender it is still a g.
Gender in a sentence
Example 1: Our English test had ten questions on changing the gender of nouns.
Example 2: The form asked for the student's name, age and gender.
Example 3: Duke and duchess name the same rank but differ in gender.
Fun Fact
School grammar in India uses four genders: masculine (king), feminine (queen), common (teacher) and neuter (table).
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. sentance 2. plural 3. gender 4. pronoun
a) a group of words that makes a complete statement
b) the form of a word that means more than one
c) the grammar class of a noun, such as feminine
d) a word used in place of a noun
Show answer
a) a group of words that makes a complete statement. Sentence is spelt with e in both halves, sen-tence; pronoun, gender and plural are already right.
Word Cookie
Fill in the blanks with the correct letters:
g_n_er
a) e, t
b) i, d
c) u, d
d) e, d
Show answer
d) e, d. An e follows the g, and a d begins the second syllable.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
The noun cousin has a common nrdeeg, because a cousin can be a boy or a girl.
a) gender
b) gander
c) tender
d) render
Show answer
a) gender. Gander has an a, and render and tender have no g, so gender is the only match.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
gennder
a) e
b) d
c) r
d) n
Show answer
d) n. Only one n sits in the middle of the word.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which noun is of common gender?
a) parent
b) uncle
c) niece
d) bull
Show answer
a) parent
2. Which noun is of neuter gender?
a) pencil
b) lioness
c) aunt
d) actor
Show answer
a) pencil
