Parts of Speech Activity: “The Jabberwocky”
Part I. Read the Poem
Directions: Read through the following poem and pay particular attention to the words that
are underlined. Although these words have been invented by Lewis Carroll, they still serve
grammatical functions within the piece and represent definitive parts of speech.
The Jabberwocky
By Lewis Carroll
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought -So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Part II. Identify the Part of Speech
Directions: The invented words from the poem are provided below. Using the context
clues in the sentence, identify the part of speech of each word and write it in the space
provided.
Word
1. brillig
2. slithy
3. toves
4. gyre
5. gimble
6. wabe
7. mimsy
8. borogoves
9. mome
10. raths
11. outgrabe
12. Jabberwock
13. Jubjub
14. frumious
15. Bandersnatch
16. vorpal
17. manxome
18. Tumtum
19. uffish
20. whiffling
21. tulgey
22. burbled
23. galumphing
24. beamish
25. frabjous
26. Callooh!
27. Callay!
Part of Speech
28. Chortled
Part III. Rewrite the poem with real words
Directions: Using your knowledge of the parts of speech as a guideline, now substitute the
invented words with real words that could actually fit in the context of the poem. This
means that the words you enter must be of the same part of speech as the imaginary word
they are replacing.
'Twas
, and the
Did
and
All
were the
in the
;
,
And the
.
"Beware the
, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the
bird, and shun
The
!"
He took his
sword in hand:
Long time the
foe he sought --
So rested he by the
tree,
And stood awhile in thought
And as in
The
thought he stood,
, with eyes of flame,
Came
through the
And
as it came!
wood,
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The
blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went
back.
"And hast thou slain the
?
Come to my arms, my
boy!
O
day!
He
in his joy.
'Twas
, and the
Did
and
All
And the
.
!
!"
in the
were the
;
,