|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Head
Many swear words can be used as multiple parts of speech, such as s--t, which can be a verb, a noun, or an interjection. You might say that their use as interjections gives oaths a leg up on other words, so satisfying three parts of speech isn't too impressive. Merriam Webster lists four parts of speech for damn (noun, verb, adverb, and adjective). In the film "Blue Velvet," Dennis Hopper's character utters a sentence comprised almost entirely of the word "f--k" and its variations.
Getting out of the gutter, "book" can be an adjective (book learning), or a verb (we booked 2 tickets for the play, or when we heard the cops coming we knew it was time to book out of there ), in addition to a noun.
Merriam-Webster even lists a verb form of "word." (transitive senses : to express in words). Adding this arachaic verb form with the slang use of "word" as an interjection conveying agreement and/or approval, along with the common noun form, and you get three parts of speech.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Proper which also had recent use as a slang interjection conveying approval, is given definitions in M-W as noun, adjective, and adverb. A use I think of as common (virtuous) is described as archaic. The noun form is defined as 1 : the parts of the Mass that vary according to the liturgical calendar 2 : the part of a missal or breviary containing the proper of the Mass and the offices proper to the holy days of the liturgical year. The abverb form is a stretch, defined as (chiefly dialect) : in a thorough manner : COMPLETELY.
Mean is a verb (he means to win) or an adjective (that mean old lady next door), and in mathematics it is a noun.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
prep.
adv., conj. or pronoun (= that!)
(and you could make the case for noun (Laotian money) but I won't)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Adverb? Example please?
and I don't think pronoun (= that!) counts
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Many color words, such as blue, can be used as a noun, a verb and an adjective, although the verb sense of most of them merely means either to make something that particular color or to describe something taking on that color. e.g. The newspaper yellowed with age, or The metal on the rifle was blued. The adjective forms of color words take on more interesting meanings in addition to simply describing an object of a particular color. He was in a blue mood. He was green with envy.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
adv., conj. or pronoun (= that!)
OED lists all of these uses of at (= that) as obsolete or dialect and gives plentiful examples from centuries past. How's at?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 555
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 555 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Oh, I think I did mess up here. I was thinking in terms of 'spy' as an independent adjective as in 'spy glass', 'spy fiction', and 'spy story'--but, in having looked up the terms on Onelook.com, I see that these are nouns unto themselves. But, then again, if I were to characterize a person as wearing an enormous coat, one large enough to weather any storm, a virtual spy coat--wouldn't you visualize Columbo (or Colombo, or whoever that person was I never did see except in commercials (I swear)?
Anyway, I back out on 'spy' as an adjective since apparently no dictionary will back me up.
However, I would like to point out [I thought of this driving to work early this morning] that 'ing' verbs give us a huge selection of v/n/a conformations through participles and gerunds, as in:
I am swimming;
Swimming is my favorite morning activity;
Elise, the swimming champion, truly displayed more humility than anyone else in the room.
And the list of 'ing' words, (v./a./n.-gerunds) is perhaps endless if we go about verbing and nouning anything we can think of doing, from oohing to ahing.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
864
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
