Linguistic categories explaining how words are used. Examples are the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
3
votes
4answers
247 views
Is “messaging” a noun, a verb, or an adjective?
In the cruel jargon of software, it is common to see the phrase "messaging system", as if "messaging" were an adjective. Yet if I am "brushing" my teeth, it's a verb. There is an act of "brushing", ...
3
votes
3answers
356 views
What part of speech is “chiropractic”?
"Chiropractic" sounds like an adjective because of the "ic", but the title "Doctor of Chiropractic" seems like a noun.
Am I just confused?
2
votes
2answers
333 views
Is 'this this' correct?
The ability to echo words and still make a meaningful statement has always bugged me. Take this example sentence:
"Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. We will take care of this this ...
2
votes
3answers
526 views
They call me “Tater Salad.” What is the part of speech of “Tater Salad”?
What is the part of speech of "Tater Salad" in the sentence 'They call me "Tater Salad."'?
What about "crazy" in "They call me crazy."?
For that matter, is "me" the object of the verb "call" in both ...
2
votes
2answers
158 views
What's the part of speech of the noun after 'twice'?
He could earn twice his present salary at the new job.
Twice two is four.
Merriam-Webster says ‘twice’ followed by a noun is an adverb. In this case, is the noun still called a noun or something ...
2
votes
2answers
133 views
Can a “who” act as both a pronoun and a conjunction at the same time?
Example:
I will sue the person who murdered my neighbour.
In the above example, should we treat who as a relative pronoun, a conjunction, or both?
2
votes
2answers
675 views
What does “just between you and me” function as?
We are trying to figure out the parts of speech in the following sentence and have been stumped by the first phrase:
Just between you and me, those boots aren't cool this year.
I say ...
2
votes
2answers
203 views
checking parts of speech pattern of this sentence
I wonder if the following sentence is grammatically correct.
Foobar is a novel, set in a scenic landscape of farmland and ancient woodland on the banks of the River Foo.
I suppose the word "set" ...
2
votes
2answers
114 views
What are the parts of speech of “at” and “least” in “at least”?
As in “It travels faster than sound at least.”
After considering the alternative at the very least, I'm thinking at is a preposition, and least is — well, stumping me. Can we have it be as normal, a ...
2
votes
2answers
260 views
'to' / 'rather than' / 'but' [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which is correct: “prefer X to Y” or “prefer X over Y”?
I prefer walking to taking the bus
I prefer walking rather than taking the bus
...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
What part of speech is the “be + verb” here? What tense are these sentences in?
I shall have him be killed.
She is to be stoned for adultery.
What are the constructions be +verb called, grammatically? I feel like the above sentences are very adjectival in nature, more ...
2
votes
2answers
54 views
What is/are the part(s) of “out of” in the phrase “move out of the way”?
In the phrase “move out of the way”, what is the part of speech of the word “out”? of the word “of”?
2
votes
1answer
319 views
What are the parts of speech in “he's fifty years old”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Adjective Pluralization
He's a fifty-year-old man.
He's fifty years old.
I'm fine with the first of these two sentences, in which "fifty-year-old" is a ...
2
votes
2answers
180 views
What's the grammatical function of “not” and “to” in this sentence?
What's the grammatical function of not and to in this sentence?
It is legitimate for Slovenia not to allow the merger.
How do I analyse the verb phrase? Allow is the headword, but what are not ...
1
vote
4answers
680 views
What is the name of the difference between “doesn't” and “don't”?
I came across a phrase like this today, which is obviously incorrect:
The car don't run.
The correct version of this would be:
The car doesn't run.
I wanted to explain the issue to ...
1
vote
1answer
145 views
How to identify adjectives [closed]
I’m revisiting/studying about adjectives in “Adjectives” at Capital Community College Guide to Grammar and Writing. First I learn that articles are adjectives, but then there follows a paragraph in ...
1
vote
2answers
124 views
Analysing “So amazed he cannot speak” [closed]
In the sentence: "So amazed he cannot speak", is "amazed" an adjective?
1
vote
1answer
180 views
Postpositions in English and “ago”
I was informed earlier today that the word ago is actually a postposition and the only one of its kind in English. Is this correct? If so, why do dictionaries not use this classification and prefer ...
1
vote
2answers
462 views
What part of speech is “only” in this sentence: Fame lights a fuse that leads only to extinguishment
My impulse is that it's modifying the verb leads, and is thus an adverb; yet it seems that a case could also be made that it's exerting power on the phrase to extinguishment, a noun, which would make ...
1
vote
1answer
576 views
What part of speech are the words in the phrase “as well as”?
In the sentence:
My car as well as my lap top were stolen last night.
What part of speech are the words in the phrase as well as?
I believe the first as is the preposition of the phrase, that ...
1
vote
2answers
320 views
What part of speech is 'pooped' in “I am pooped”
I have a wager that 'pooped' in "I am pooped" is not an adjective; however the betting party contends that it is an adjective since "it describes the state of the subject, I".
The other party also ...
1
vote
1answer
76 views
Part of speech: “I am disappointed with”
In a construction such as, "John is disappointed with Alice", what part of speech is disappointed with? It appears to me that the "am" is a linking verb.
Similarly, "Jessica is sad", it seems to me ...
1
vote
2answers
144 views
Is “on” part of a verb phrase in “Put Item on Hold?”
For an interface I'm working on, there's a command available to a user called "Put Item On Hold." Or possibly it should be "Put Item on Hold," since the style guide I'm using says that prepositions ...
1
vote
2answers
375 views
Gerund Phrase as Subject
Is it acceptable to use a gerund phrase as the subject of a sentence? More generally, can a gerund phrase be used interchangeably with other nouns? For example:
Understanding history enhances ...
1
vote
2answers
297 views
Is “of ” necessary in “all of ”?
Listen to all your fans
vs
Listen to all of your fans
OR
Name all the states
vs
Name all of the states
What part of language is of in these examples? Is it necessary or ...
1
vote
1answer
633 views
Is there a simple word -> noun/verb/pronoun table? [closed]
I'm after a basic list of words and their "role" in language. It could be plain text, excel, csv, but all I want is, eg:
cat noun
run verb
etc. Simple as that. I'm teaching a young friend who's ...
1
vote
4answers
881 views
What part of speech is “turn” in the phrase “it's my turn”? What's its origin?
Hey! It's my turn!
This is a very acceptable usage of the word turn. It seems to me that in this sentence, turn is a noun, because it's something that I own. Now, I could be really wrong ...
1
vote
3answers
178 views
Grammar–are there any PoS patterns that are incorrect/to be avoided?
I don't know if there are any patterns/rules for "grammatical don'ts" that pertain to Parts of Speech.
For the sake of clarity, I refer to things such as:
1) Noun Noun Noun
2) Verb Noun Adverb
3) ...
1
vote
1answer
426 views
Usage of “than”
Buying on margin means borrowing money from a broker to buy more securities than can be purchased with one's own money alone.
I was wondering if than in the above example is a conjunction or ...
1
vote
4answers
886 views
What part of speech would “color” be in, “Mercury is the color red”? [closed]
Mercury is red.
Mercury is the color red.
Red is describing Mercury. What part of speech would color be?
0
votes
3answers
162 views
Grammatical analysis of “feared drowned”
What is the precise meaning of "feared drowned" in http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/6-gitam-students-feared-drowned-rushukonda-326.
I got the intended meaning, but I am confused ...
0
votes
2answers
4k views
What part of speech is 'there' in this sentence?
What part of speech is there in the sentence "There is a book on the table?"
Also, while typing it out, another question pops up vis-a-vis punctuation. In my complete first sentence above, I ended it ...
0
votes
2answers
7k views
“As of late” or “as of lately”?
The title pretty much summarizes my question. For example, in the following sentence
She has developed an accent while living overseas, which as of late(ly) became more pronounced.
I usually ...
0
votes
2answers
89 views
Part of speech of “clean” in “burn the prophet clean”
Please guide me for the part of speech of clean here in this extract:
He had schooled him in the evils that befall prophets; in those that come from the world, which are trifling, and those that ...
0
votes
2answers
67 views
Usage of the article 'a' before bait in this particular instance
Is it acceptable to use the article 'a' before 'bait' in this sentence? Is there a difference in meaning here when you use 'a' or drop it?
"You would not have sent it to me for no reason. It was a ...
0
votes
1answer
763 views
What is a difference between “what if” and “if”
My English teacher asked me what's the difference between what if and if last week.
I can't search anything about that. What only I know is what if is a question sentence. And if is a general(?) ...
0
votes
2answers
203 views
Question regarding “does”/“do”
What rule of grammar does this sentence break? (I mean the "does" part of the following sentence)
What does the status indicators mean?
Also, why does english.stackexchange.com have a code ...
0
votes
4answers
202 views
Is “predicable” a noun or an adjective?
Is it "the policy is a predicable" or "the policy is predicable"?
0
votes
4answers
159 views
Is there a term for the phenomenon where the same word forms more than one part of speech?
Is there a term for e.g. the lexical symbol "duck"? It is both a verb and a noun, in contemporary use having no apparent connection, and so would appear to be represent two words.
Then, is the a ...
0
votes
3answers
88 views
Word to describe the quality of being optional or mandatory
Something like 'Optionality' or 'Ordinality'? (It's similar in kind to the words "Arity" and "Cardinality")
Example: "Fred listed the XXXity of each parameter, noting whether it was optional or ...
0
votes
0answers
48 views
Can one ever be sure which lexical class, or part of speech, each word in a sentence belongs to? [closed]
What I mean by this is that, given a sentence, could one ever be absolutely certain which lexical class, or part of speech, each word in that sentence belongs to? Each word might be totally unknown, ...
0
votes
0answers
104 views
What part of speech is “that” in each of the following sentences that mean the same?
It was all planned well before today that I can be sure about.
Here I believe that that is subordinating conjunction.
It was all planned well before today; I can be sure about that.
Here I ...
0
votes
0answers
94 views
What are the possible part of speech combinations for compound nouns?
I am currently working through allowable part of speech combinations for the first two words of an English sentence. It seems troubling to me to allow the first two words of a sentence to both be ...
0
votes
1answer
72 views
When is “here” an adverb or a noun?
In the sentence "I hope you are all paying attention, here is a sentence I made earlier", is here an adverb or a noun? I think it is a noun, but if I substitute a noun or a pronoun for here, the ...
-1
votes
1answer
107 views
Interpretation of 'have' as stative or dynamic
Please bear with me. It's been a long time since I looked up grammatical concepts.
The sentence is:
I can quite clearly see the bewildered looks you will be having on your faces on reading this. ...
-1
votes
1answer
130 views
Is “leaning” not a verb? [closed]
Please see the following sentence:
Detaching itself from the main body of traffic, a lone auto-rickshaw drew up near Porus, the driver leaning out expectantly.
Looking at http://tfd.com/leaning ...
-2
votes
2answers
423 views
Grammar of 'over' in 'The accident was already over when we arrived' [closed]
What is the grammar of the word 'over' in the example:'The accident was already over when we arrived'
I know it means finished and I think it's an adjective but didn't find the same meaning in the ...
-2
votes
1answer
271 views
Verb, gerund or participle? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What's the difference between a gerund and a participle?
The doctor was talking to the patient.
Here 'talking' is used as verb, gerund or participle?
-3
votes
1answer
68 views
What part of speech is “(noun) the (noun)”? [closed]
What part of speech is the part boldfaced in these sentences?
Chell the protagonist of Portal is a woman.
Ludwig Wittgenstein the Austrian-British philosopher worked primarily in logic.
Tim ...
-6
votes
1answer
64 views
“Bongo is screaming”: is “screaming” an adjective? [closed]
If I say, "Bongo is screaming", would screaming be an adjective?
