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8 Common Kinds of Joke in English

8 Common Kinds of Joke in English

8 Common Kinds of Joke in English

Below are eight of the most common kinds of joke in English. Why not try to write your own jokes using these models?

8 Common Kinds of Joke in English

8 Common Kinds of Joke in English

  • pun with homonym

Q: Why couldn’t the elephant go on holiday?

A: Because it was impossible to pack his trunk.

  • pun with homophone

Q: Why did the tennis equipment factory have to close down?

A: Because they kept making a racket.

  • pun based on an idiom

A: Look – that guard outside Buckingham Palace has just removed his bearskin.

B: I bet that’s a weight off his mind.

  • mixed match

Q: What do you get when you cross an unsolicited message with tinned meat?

A: A spam email.

  • riddle (logic)

Q: What weighs both 8.75 g and 454 g?

A: A pound.

  • comparison

Q: What is the difference between a nag that delivers letters and a man with a sore throat?

A: One is a mail horse and the other is a hoarse male.

  • reverse expectations

I woke up, had a wash, got dressed, had breakfast, and brushed my teeth. Then I got off the bus.

  • knock knock

A: Knock, knock.

B: Who’s there?

A: Wa.

B: Wa who?

A: No need to be so enthusiastic!

LOL

LOL

Material for further discussion:

What is humour?

For example:

Surprising juxtapositions:

“Humour is evoked when a trigger contained in the punchline causes the audience to abruptly shift its understanding of the story from the primary (or more obvious) interpretation to a secondary, opposing interpretation.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke

Why do we laugh?

For example: surprise, shock, recognition, embarrassment, etc.

Find out more: The 7 Real Reasons for Laughing | Psychology Today

Are the English joke models above similar to joke models in your language?

Please give some examples.

What other kinds of joke can you think of?

For example:

  • The rule of three: establish, reinforce, subvert (expectations)
  • One-liner
  • Shaggy dog story – a long, rambling story with a surprising punchline. The humour is in the way it is told
  • Observation about life in general
  • Anecdote about your life
  • Call-back to an earlier gag – the audience is pleasantly reminded of an earlier funny event
  • Other wordplay based on homonyms, homophones, double meanings
  • Shock joke: sick, transgressional, taboo, e.g. sexist, racist, bad language, anti-minority groups
  • Practical joke – you trick somebody you know, e.g. tying their shoelaces together when they’re not looking so they trip over

What’s your favourite joke? Why do you like it? Does it still make you laugh after hearing it many times?

Are you funny? Can you make people laugh? How do you do it? Do you do it consciously or by accident?

Who are your favourite comedians? What kinds of joke do they tell?

What other kinds of humour do you know?

For example:

  • Situation-based, e.g. a sit-com
  • Character-based
  • Irony / sarcasm / self-deprecation
  • Deadpan delivery
  • Farce – events spiral out of control
  • Slapstick – people falling over and getting in a mess
  • Written humour: stories, limericks (5 lines, rhyme scheme: A, A, B, B, A)
  • Roast – friends making fun of one another

What is your favourite comedy show / film / book / comic strip, etc.? What kind of humour do they use?

See also:

Nine genres of comedy:

https://funnyindian.medium.com/standup-comedy-devices-the-biggest-traps-in-writing-performing-standup-comedy-9a46178ad064


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Image: TheDigitalArtist on Pixaby.com; Smiling people photo created by kroshka__nastya on www.freepik.com

Guess the Date! A Fun New Game for EFL Students

Guess the Date! A Fun New Game for EFL Students

Guess the Date! A Fun New Game for EFL Students

Looking for a fun game to practice days and dates in English? Look no further!

Instructions

Work in pairs or small groups. One person is the quizmaster. They pick a month, e.g. the current or following month, then a day in that month. The others have to guess it, while the quizmaster gives clues, ranging from easy to impossible! Show a calendar of the month and cross out dates that have been discounted (link below). You could also research and use special events in that particular month as clues. When the date has been guessed, points are scored and the winner – or the next player – picks a date and the game continues.

Easy clues:

  • The day of the week begins with the letter  x
  • It is / is not at the weekend
  • It is towards the beginning / the end of the week
  • The day has x letters
  • The date has st / nd / rd / th suffix
  • The date starts with a 0 / a 1 / a 2 / a 3
  • The date has one / two digits
  • The day has a silent letter

Medium clues:

  • It is / is not a [ day ]
  • It is not [ date ]
  • The date is higher / lower than [ number ]
  • It is / is not on or near a particular holiday / special day
  • It is earlier / later in the month than the holiday / special day
  • The date is odd / even
  • The date has x straight lines / rounded elements
  • The 1st / 2nd letter (etc.) is from the 1st / 2nd half of the alphabet
  • The figure and day share the same first / second / last, etc. letter
  • There are x vowels / consonants in the spelling of the day / date
  • The day has 2 / 3 syllables

Difficult / impossible clues:

  • The day / number has x stressed vowel sound
  • This is the day I went on holiday last year
  • It is my mum’s birthday / the day before / two weeks before, etc.
  • It is my favourite day of the week

Variations 

There are various ways of playing this game. At heart it is simply a ‘guess the number out of 30 or 31’ game. Here are some more variations. Note: yes/no questions work better than wh-questions, because players can ask much easier questions – even just ‘What is the date?’ It’s also a great way to practice and reinforce making question forms. Before you start, you could go through the kinds of question that SS can ask from the previous page:

  1. Player A asks five (or more or fewer) yes/no questions*. The aim is to narrow down the number of possible options, e.g. if you ask ‘Is it an odd or an even number?’ the answer will rule out half of the dates. If they can’t guess the date after their questions, the other player(s) gets x points. Then swap roles.
  2. Player A gives five (or more or fewer) clues (see previous page or cards). The other players listen, make notes, then guess at the end. Points for the winner(s). Change roles.
  3. Both players have 10 (or more or fewer) virtual coins. Player 1 asks questions or ‘buys’ clues to guess the date. For every question or clue they lose 2 (or more or fewer) coins. If they run out, the round ends and Player 2 tells them the date. At the start of the next round both players receive another amount of coins to use. The winner is the player with the most coins after x rounds.
  4. In a big group – every player or team writes down the date they think it is. The correct date is called and the player or team which is closest wins that round. Continue for x rounds.
  5. Use the question cards provided, or write your own. Each player in the pair or group has written their date and the others have to guess it. Each player in turn takes a card and asks the question to each person in the pair or group. Guess when you like, but lose a point if you are incorrect. It would be a good idea to take notes, if there are several people in the group! The winner is the player whose date is guessed last – or not at all. You can also use the cards as clue cards in Activity 2 (above), by changing the questions into a statement, e.g. does the day begin with the letter M?  becomes  The day begins with the letter M.

Feel free to devise your own variations! Be creative.

*Example of five questions to narrow down the date to one (based on the month of August 2022):

Is it an odd or an even number? (if odd, 15 days are discounted; if even, 16 days; let’s say the date is odd)

Is it a week day? (let’s say no, so 4 potential dates remain: 7th, 13th, 21st, and 27th)

Does the date have 7 letters (i.e. Is it Sunday)? Yes, so 2 dates remain: 7th and 21st)

Does the date have double figures? If yes, it is 21/08/22; if no, the date is 07/08/22

No fifth question required, but another good question is: Is the first or second number straight (i.e. 1, 4, 7) or round (all the other numbers)?

Check out the video of an online class that I did using this idea:

Download the free PDF version here:

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/guess-the-date-activity-instructions.pdf


Card game:

Download the free PDF card game here:

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/guess-the-date-game-cards-complete-pack.pdf

Card Game – List of 40 Questions

Note: x means a variable

DAY:

1. Does the day begin with the letter x?
2. Is the day at the weekend?
3. Is it a weekday?
4. Does the day have x letters?
5. Does the day contain a silent letter?
6. Does the x letter of the day come from the first half of the alphabet?
7. Does the x letter of the day come from the second half of the alphabet?
8. Are there x vowel letters in the spelling of the day?
9. Are there x consonant letters in the spelling of the day?
10. Are there x vowel letters in the spelling of the month?
11. Are there x consonant letters in the spelling of the month?
12. Does the day have two syllables?
13. Does the day have three syllables?

DATE (NUMBERS):

14. Is the date near the beginning of the month?
15. Is the date near the middle of the month?
16. Is the date near the end of the month?
17. Does the date have the suffix -st?
18. Does the date have the suffix -nd?
19. Does the date have the suffix -rd?
20. Does the date have the suffix -th?
21. Does the date begin with 0?
22. Does the date begin with 1?
23. Does the date begin with 2?
24. Does the date begin with 3?
25. Does the date have 1 or 2 figures?
26. Is the date higher than x?
27. Is the date lower than x?
28. Is the date x?
29. Is the date odd?
30. Is the date even?
31. Is the x digit of the date straight?
32. Is the x digit of the date rounded?
33. Does the first digit begin with the same letter as the first letter of the month?
34. Does the second digit begin with the same letter as the first letter of the month?
35. Are there x vowel letters in the spelling of the date?
36. Are there x consonant letters in the spelling of the date?
37. Is the date before a special event?
38. Is the date after a special event?
39. Does the sum of the two figures equal x?
40. Any maths equation with the two figures in the date: e.g. plus, minus, multiply, divide, etc.
e.g. If you add together both digits of the date, is the result more than 5?

Click here for more about dates and ordinal numbers >


This material is completely  free to use, so please feel free to share it widely!

If you have any feedback about these free resources, we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or review below or on Facebook or Twitter.


Images: 200degrees and OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixaby.com