Ask a native English speaker what an interjection is and you’ll probably get a blank look even though most of us use interjections in daily speech dozens of times a day. So what are interjections?
Many interjections are used to express strong emotions such as joy, sorrow, excitement, surprise, pain, anger, fear, and so on. They show our instant reaction and often don’t make any sense unless you hear them in context. Interjections are considered as inappropriate in formal speech and writing, and indeed tend to appear in writing only where it records the spoken words of either a real or fictional character. Given that many interjections are used to convey strong emotions, when written down, they are commonly followed by an exclamation mark.
Whilst interjections can also be used to express a greeting, a request, a demand or agreement, we’ve focused on ‘emotive interjections’ for our quiz. Try matching the interjections with the correct sentence. You’ll need to consider what emotion is being revealed in each sentence and which interjection best expresses that emotion. If you get stuck we’ve given the meaning for each interjection below.
Fit the following 15 interjections into the correct sentences: Wow, Phew, Oops, Eww, Aah, Uh-oh, Uh-huh, Ouch, Dang, Aw, Aww, Duh, Hurrah, Hmm, Crikey:
1.____ ! That pan is hot.
2. ____! I’m so sorry. I’ve just spilt the water all over the table.
3. ____ ! That’s the most revolting cheese I’ve ever eaten.
4. ____ ! What do expect if you put a red shirt in the washing machine with white clothes
5. ____ ! I think I’ve just locked my keys in the car.
6. ” Do you remember the lady who was so rude to us yesterday?” “____ .”
7. ____ ! We just made it in time. I really thought we were going to miss the train.
8. ____ ! That was my last coin and the machine has just taken it.
9. ____ ! We won the game!
10. ___ ! You look amazing in that dress.
11. ____ ! I’m not really sure if this colour suits me. Usually I wear blue.
12 .____ ! I’m going to fall.
13. ____ ! What an adorable puppy.
14. ____ ! Did you see the size of that snake?
15. ____ ! Can I do my homework later? I’m still watching this film.
Need a little help? Check out our Interjection glossary.
Aah – used to express fear.
Aw– used to express protest.
Aww – used for something that is sweet or cute.
Crikey – Australian interjection to express surprise or shock.
Dang – American interjection to express anger or annoyance.
Duh – used to express scorn of a foolish or stupid action, especially someone else’s.
Eww – used to express dislike or disgust.
Hmm – used to express hesitation or that you are thinking about something.
Hurrah – used to express joy, happiness and celebration.
Oops – used to express an apology and show recognition of a mistake or minor accident.
Ouch – used to express pain.
Phew – used to express relief .
Uh-oh – used to express dismay or concern when you have made a mistake or are in a bad situation.
Uh-huh – used to indicate affirmation, agreement, or understanding of something that has just been said.
Wow – used to express amazement or admiration.
And now for the final reveal. Just how many did you get right? Check the answers below.
1.Ouch. 2. Oops. 3. Eww. 4. Duh. 5. Uh-oh. 6. Uh-huh. 7. Phew. 8. Dang. 9. Hurrah. 10. Wow. 11. Hmm. 12. Aah. 13. Aww. 14. Crikey. 15. Aw.
Don’t worry if you did get them all right. Emotional responses are tricky things and can be open to interpretation , so it only follows that some sentences could potentially have more than one answer!