Meaning & use
chalkboard
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A dark, flat board used in classrooms, on which you write with chalk.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a chalkboard or two chalkboards.
Patterns
- write on a chalkboard
- clean the chalkboard
The teacher wrote the math problem on the chalkboard.
Please erase the chalkboard before the next class.
There was a dusty chalkboard at the front of the room.
Word forms
| plural | chalkboards |
|---|
Common combinations
- on the chalkboard
- She drew a diagram on the chalkboard.
- clean the chalkboard
- The students take turns cleaning the chalkboard after school.
- write on the chalkboard
- He wrote the homework assignment on the chalkboard.
- chalkboard eraser
- The chalkboard eraser was full of chalk dust.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blackboard
- The usual British word for the same object; chalkboard is common in American English and can also mean a board of any color.
Word family
- chalk noun
- The soft white substance used for writing on a chalkboard.
Commonly confused: chalkboard or whiteboard?
chalkboard vs whiteboard
A whiteboard is a white board written on with special markers, not chalk. Chalkboards are usually dark and used with chalk.
Practice
The teacher asked a student to ______ the chalkboard after the lesson.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' (infinitive marker), the base verb 'clean' is correct: 'to clean the chalkboard'. 'Cleaning' would need a different structure, and 'cleans' is the third-person singular form, which cannot follow 'to'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chalkboard”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.