Find a pun in Katharina and Hortensio's conversation in Act 1, Scene 1 of The Taming of the Shrew.
A pun , or a play on words, is where one word is deliberately taken to mean something else and a comic effect is produced as a result. We can see a pun at work in the conversation, or barrage of insults, that come into play after Baptista has made...
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his decree that Bianca will not marry until Katharina is married. In this case, the pun centres around the use of the word "mates." Trace the conversation between Katharina and Hortensio:
KATHARINA: I pray you, sir, is it your will
To make  astale of me amongst these mates?
HORTENSIO: "Mates," maid? How mean you that? No mates for you,
Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.
Katharina uses the word "mates" to refer to rude fellows, deliberately insulting Gremio and Hortensio, but Hortensio deliberately twists what she is trying to say, using "mates" in the sense of refering to "husband."
Find a pun in Petruchio and Grumio's conversation in Act 1, Scene 2 of The Taming of the Shrew.
A pun is otherwise known as a play on words and is often when one character says something that is deliberately misinterpreted by another character, who shows his or her wit by doing this. We can see this in play in the very first exchange between Petruchio and Grumio in Act I scene 2, as Petrucio enters and asks his erstwhile servant to "knock" on the door of Hortensio's house to altert him to their arrival. Note how Grumio responds:
Knock, sir? Whom should I knock? Is there any man has rebused your worship?
Of course, Grumio is wilfully misinterpreting the word "knock," taking it to mean hit or punch, which is why he asks "whom" he should "knock" and if there is anyone who has insulted Petruchio. Grumio seems to play the stereotypical role of a witty Shakesperian servant who engages in such banter with his master, who is not much better.