Class 3 - English - Opposites

Learning Objectives

Students will understand what opposites (antonyms) are.
Students will learn at least 20 common pairs of opposites.
Students will use opposites correctly in sentences.
Students will be able to match and fill in opposite words.

Let Us Begin!

Is the sun hot or cold? Is an elephant big or small? Is day the same as night?

Hot and cold, big and small, day and night -- these are words that have opposite meanings. We call them antonyms. Learning opposites helps us understand words better. Let us begin!

What Are Opposites?

Opposites are words that have completely different meanings from each other. Another name for opposites is antonyms.

For example: "big" means large in size. "Small" means little in size. So, big and small are opposites.

Think about it: What is the opposite of "happy"? If you said "sad", you are right!

20 Common Opposite Pairs

Word	Opposite	Word	Opposite
big	small	hot	cold
happy	sad	tall	short
old	new	fast	slow
up	down	day	night
open	close	clean	dirty
light	dark	hard	soft
full	empty	thick	thin
long	short	wet	dry
good	bad	rich	poor
come	go	laugh	cry

Opposites in Sentences

Let us see how opposites work in sentences:

The mango is sweet, but the lemon is sour.
The elephant is big, but the ant is small.
In summer it is hot, but in winter it is cold.
Rani is happy today, but Sita is sad.
The glass is full of water, but the jug is empty.

Think about it: Can you make a sentence using the opposites "clean" and "dirty"?

Key Words and Meanings

Word	Meaning
Opposite	A word that has a completely different meaning from another word
Antonym	Another name for opposite words
Pair	Two things that go together (big-small is a pair of opposites)
Meaning	What a word tells us or stands for

Key Points to Remember

Opposites are words with completely different meanings. They are also called antonyms.
Big - Small, Hot - Cold, Happy - Sad, Day - Night are common opposite pairs.
Every word does not have an opposite. Only describing words and some action words have opposites.
Learning opposites helps us understand and use words better.

Examples from Daily Life

Example 1: At the Market

Amma bought a big watermelon and a small lemon. The watermelon was heavy and the lemon was light. Here, big-small and heavy-light are pairs of opposites.

Example 2: Weather

In Chennai, summers are very hot. But in Shimla, winters are very cold. Hot and cold are opposites that describe the weather.

Example 3: In the Classroom

The teacher said, "Please open your books." After the lesson, she said, "Now close your books." Open and close are opposite actions.

Practice Questions

A. Write the Opposite

hot --
big --
day --
happy --
full --
fast --
clean --
up --

B. Multiple Choice Questions

What is the opposite of "tall"?
(a) big(b) short(c) fat(d) long
What is the opposite of "open"?
(a) shut(b) close(c) wide(d) break
Which pair are NOT opposites?
(a) hot - cold(b) big - small(c) run - walk(d) day - night

C. Fill in the Opposite in the Sentence

The pillow is soft, but the rock is .
The tortoise is slow, but the rabbit is .
My old shoes are torn. I need shoes.
The room was dark, so I switched on the light to make it .

Think and Do -- Fun Activity

Match the Pairs: Draw a line to match each word in Column A with its opposite in Column B.

Column A	Column B
laugh	dry
wet	poor
thick	cry
rich	bad
good	thin
come	down
up	go

English -- Class 3

English -- Class 3 (continued)