**Case Study: W*eekdays*** It's probably easiest to get a handle on what some tests for noun status might look like, by seeing in action. Let's have a look at the item *weekdays* in a sentence such as: - It's open *weekdays*. The three primary competing word categories for this word are probably *adverb, noun* and *preposition*. For want of space, we will just look at the noun and adverb options. **Syntactic function** This phrase is an Adjunct (read adverbial) in the clause structure. It's modifying the verb phrase *is open*. It's an adjunct because the phrase is not necessary for the sentence to be well formed. The sentence *It's open* is grammatical without this extra phrase. This syntactic function is associated in school-learned grammar with adverbs. Of course, preposition phrases very often carry out this function too. Just in terms of statistical probability, the fact this is an adjunct makes it statistically more likely to be an adverb than a noun. However, this phrase is, more specifically, a *temporal* adjunct. We have seen that noun phrases very often function as temporal adjuncts. Here are some examples: - It's open **the days after tomorrow**. - It's open **mornings and afternoons**. - It's open **next year**. - It's open **three times a week** According to grammatical relations within this particular sentence, it is perfectly possible therefore that *weekdays* is a noun heading its own Noun Phrase. Let's look at more data from syntactic functions. If *weekdays* is a noun, it should be able to function freely as an NP as a Subject, Object or Predicative Complement: - Weekdays bore me. (Subject) - I hate weekdays. (Object) - Monday and Tuesday are weekdays. (Predicative Complement) If *weekdays* is an adverb we would expect ungrammatical results when used as a Predicative complement: - Monday and Tuesday are weekdays. - *Monday and Tuesday are regularly. (adverb as PC, ungrammatical) We see above the bad results from the adverb *regularly* when used as a Predicative complement. In contrast *weekdays* seems fine. Lastly in terms of syntactic function, if *weekdays* is a common noun we would expect it to be able to occur in as Modifier of another noun. If it is an adverb then pre-modification of another noun should be ungrammatical: - the weekdays association - a weekdays pass - *the regularly associations - *a regularly pass It we assume that *weekdays* is a plural noun then we would expect the singular form to be used as a modifier even more freely: - weekday mornings - weekday outings - weekday tickets The examples above are all grammatical. Compare these with: - *regularly outings - *regularly mornings - *regularly pass These examples with adverbs, in contrast, are all ungrammatical. This more or less rules out *weekdays* from being an adverb and provides strong evidence for it being a noun. **Modification** If weekdays is a noun, we expect it to be modifiable by other nouns and by adjectives as well. We do not expect it to be modifiable by adverbs. If it is an adverb we expect it to be modifiable by other adverbs. We don't expect it to be modifiable by adjectives: - It's open **sunny weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (adjective) - It's open **regular weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (adjective) - It's open **summer weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (noun) - It's open **calendar weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (noun) - *It' open **very weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (adverb) - *It is open **regularly weekdays** from 10am to 6pm (adverb) The examples above show grammatical results for modification by adjectives and nouns and bad result for modification by adverbs. This again shows that *weekdays* is almost definitely a noun, not an adverb. **Determiners** If *weekdays* is a noun, we should be able to use it with determiners such as *every*, *some*, *these*, *the* and so forth. We will save the singular determiner *every* till we consider whether *weekdays* is a plural form in the next section. Here are examples with some other determiners: - It's open some weekdays. - It's open the weekdays that you mentioned. - It's open these weekdays, but not those weekdays. - It's open all weekdays. Adverbs don't take determiners. The data above constitutes virtually cast iron proof that *weekdays* is a noun here. **Plural inflections** If *weekdays* is a noun, it's probably plural given the 'S' ending. We have already seen it in a singular form modifying other nouns further above. When we see it functioning as head of its own NP, it will need a determiner. Below we see it with the determiners *every* and *one*: - It's open **every weekday**. - It's open **one weekday** per month. This occurrence of *weekday* with the determiner *every* is a near cast iron guarantee of nounship. The determiner *every* only occurs as a dependent in noun phrases headed by nouns. **Genitive inflection** We can find instances of genitively inflected *weekday's* in examples such as: - The hours attended on Sunday were the equivalent of **a full weekday's** schooling. - We require at least **two weekdays'** notice to produce this material. Again adverbs and adverb phrases do not have genitively inflected forms. **Other Morphology** The morphology of *weekdays* also strongly suggests that it is a noun rather than an adverb. *Weekdays* lacks the *-ly* suffix that adverbs in English typically possess. Furthermore it appears to be a compound made from two nouns, *week* and *day(s)*. Most noun noun compounds in English are nouns. A few also occur as verbs (to *railroad* someone). Virtually none occur as adverbs. **A complete lack of adverb properties** In addition to the evidence above *weekdays* shows non of the properties we should expect from adverbs. We have already mentioned that it has non adverb-like morphology and that unlike adverbs *weekdays* can occur as a predicative complement. In addition *weekdays* has no comparative forms and does not enter into comparative constructions. It cannot be modified by the kinds of adverbs which we see freely modifying other adverbs: - so regularly - so beautifully - so soon - *so weekdays or: - quite regularly - quite beautifully - quite soon - *quite weekdays **Conclusion.** The word *weekdays* is a noun, not an adverb. 1. Its internal morphology suggests it is a noun. 2. It can fulfill the syntactic functions that are typical of temporal nouns: Subject, Object, Predicative Complement and Adjunct. 3. As with other common nouns, it can function as a modifier in a noun clause. 4. It can be modified by other nouns and by adjectives. 5. It cannot be modified by adverbs. 6. It has both a singular form and a regular plural form. 7. It has a genitively inflected form. 8. It can occur with a large range of determiners, most importantly with the determiner *every*. The strongest evidence here is the fact that it has a plural form and that it can occur with the determiner *every*. However, all the evidence above clearly demonstrates that *weekdays* is a noun. It is not a noun with adverb-like properties. It is a bona fide 100% common garden variety noun with no adverb-like properties whatsoever.