#58 - Yikes! Aw! Yuck! Wow! ... and other Interjections!

Gosh! It’s sure a beautiful morning!

It is! You just said “Gosh!”  We have learned that sentences have subjects, verbs and objects.  What part of a sentence is “Gosh”?  

“Gosh”  is an  interjection.

An Interjection? What’s an interjection?

An interjection is a word that expresses an emotion. 

It isn’t grammatically part of the sentence.

Right! In fact, you can just use an interjection alone – without a sentence.

We said that interjections express emotions. Let’s talk about some emotions and the common interjections we use to express them.

OK! Listeners, we use interjections a lot when we speak. You will probably recognize some of these interjections and maybe you have used a few of them, too. 

When we write interjections, we often put an exclamation mark (!) after them because we are expressing strong emotions. 

Yes, we use the exclamation mark (!) to show that we are speaking forcefully. 

Shall we start with interjections that express happiness?

Happiness is a great place to start!

“Yippee! I don’t have to work tomorrow!” “Yippee” is one interjection that expresses happiness or excitement. What are some others?

 “Whoohoo!” “Hooray!” “Yay!”  “Hooray! We’re going to the beach today!”

Ok! Let’s change the emotion we are expressing to displeasure. What interjections do we use when we are not happy about something?

“Dang!” or “dang it“ “Dang! I’m going to be late for work!” “Dang it! Where did I put my keys?”

Or …”darn” “darn  it” or “argh”  or “sheesh!” “Sheesh! It’s so hot in here!”   

How about expressing surprise? 

Good surprises: “Wow!” “Wow! I can’t believe Jane is your sister!”  - I’m saying “that’s amazing!”

Unpleasant surprises: “Yikes!” “Yikes! That car almost hit me!”

And disgust?

Ick! -  “Ick! That cheese smells awful!”                … or “yuck!”…Who is  “Mr. Yuck”?

There are some interjections that have different meanings in different contexts.

What are some examples?

“aw”  or “aww!” can have different meanings.

If I say “Aw! What a cute baby!” I mean “how sweet!!

Or “Aw! I’m sorry you are sick!” I want to express regret or sympathy:  “It’s too bad that you are sick.”

Or “Aw! Stop complaining!” I am protesting an action.

There is an interjection that we use when we want to say in kind of a funny way that we think something is very fancy or special  - “ooh – la-la”

”Oo-la-la! Look at that wedding dress!!”  “Ooh-la- la! His new car is so fancy!”   

If we make a small mistake, we can say “Oops!’ or ”whoops!” or “whoopsie” “Oops!  I burned the cookies!”

OK! Those are some of the most common interjections. Maybe we should stop.

Huh uh! We can’t stop yet! 

Very funny! “Huh uh” – that means “no”.

Uh huh! – and that means yes!  

Huh uh – no

And Uh huh – yes! 

Wow! English is sure interesting!

Uh huh! It sure is!

Thanks for listening!

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