I passed by a place this evening called "Fancy Nails" that caused me to wonder how common are words that are three or more parts of speech.
Can you name some others?
Cross (rather obvious, from a vicar, wouldn't you say?)
ooh, i fgot one (i think!)
present
at
I'm bottoming out here on run. I can't get past noun and verb.
In reply to:
'm bottoming out here on run. I can't get past noun and verb.
Neither can I. I'm also stuck on two for "spy"
From
http://www.m-w.comMain Entry: 3 run
Function: adjective
Date: 1774
1 a : being in a melted state <run butter> b : made from molten material : cast in a mold <run metal>
2 of fish : having made a migration or spawning run <a fresh run salmon>
3 : exhausted or winded from running
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.
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.
prep.
adv., conj. or pronoun (= that!)
(and you could make the case for noun (Laotian money) but I won't)
Adverb? Example please?
and I don't think pronoun (= that!) counts
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.
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?
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.
OK, so why not raise the bar - from three to four?
Perhaps down. It's a preposition--Take this book down the road; it could be a verb as in 'You down that drink and I'll down mine'; the sun goes down (adverb); then an adjective in 'down payment'; a noun in the feathers on a duck--how many is that? Five? That just leaves interjection, conjunction and adverb...hmmm...Put that down! That's an adverb and that makes six. And if you said to a dog, "Down!" wouldn't that be an interjection? That's seven. And I suppose 'down' as a conjunction would be impossible for even me with my flexible thinking to contrive.
et'!
Jackie's gonna get you fershure! Unless she's completely forgotten her G.P. days.
not to mention the chopped liver patrol
chopped liver
what? where? I checked! twice!
what? where? I checked! twice!In Alex's own post. He was a little more subtle.
"Fly" as adjective isn't much used in US,* but in Great Britain it means "mischievous-with-a-touch-of-meanness," yes? (used by Josephine Tey in Brat Farrar to describe Timber, a horse whose only flaw is an inclination to brush off his riders by veering suddenly under a nearby tree and smashing them against a low branch: "He's a fly one, that." )
*I count the fly in "fly paper" as a noun, paper for flies, not an adjective.
"Fly" as adjective isn't much used in US..."That depends on how old you are and who you rappin' at.
http://faculty.virginia.edu/jalexander/public_html/hiphopglossary.htm
"Anyway, I back out on 'spy' as an adjective since apparently no dictionary will back me up."
I think the word "back" should be on the list: back off, back door, scratch my back.
And "gutter", since everyone called attention to it.
I must admit I'm just a little hurt that no one even noticed that I found a word that could reasonably function as seven out of eight parts of speech.
It's this kind of disappointment that causes one to think of willows that show their hoar branches in the glassy streams...
Thus weeps WW, a little bit down....
seven out of eight
Well, while, per the OED, scores a legitimate six and I'd contest the claim of interjection for down.
sorry, WW, you counted adverb twice...
"how do you get down off an elephant?"
O.K., you damned men who are so damned determined to ignore me. Up to the point that I introduced 'down'--Max had just proposed a grand four. Right? Let's up it to four.
So I thought and thought and thought and came upon 'down'--and this is what I figured out:
Perhaps down. It's a (1-preposition) preposition--Take this book down the road;
That's one. Down is being used as a preposition in the phrase 'down the road';
It could be a (2--verb) verb as in 'You down that drink and I'll down mine'
The count's up to two;
the sun goes (3--adverb) down (adverb);
This is self-explanatory, I would hope. The sun goes up; the sun goes down; I pull the blinds down; I pull them up. The frigging word 'down' here is a frigging adverb.
then an adjective in '(4--adjective) down payment';
Well, guys, as far as I can wager in terms of October 28, 2003, at least, the 'down' in 'down payment' is still classified as an adjective;
a (5--noun) noun in the feathers on a duck
I sure as heck hope I don't have to defend 'down' as a noun as in the softest of the feathers on a duck...
--how many is that? Five? That just leaves
interjection, conjunction and adverb Whoops! Here is where I screwed up...hmmm...Put that down! That's an adverb and that makes six...uh-oh; I've already listed adverb and that makes just five.
But: If you said to a dog, "Down!" wouldn't that be an interjection? That would be six, wouldn't it?
So, et', thanks for pointing out my double-counting of the adverb. Really. Even though you're a man.
And I just would like to say that there was Max pointing out that we'd only gone to three--and here I thought of 'down' and nobody even acknowledged that I'd gone beyond four. And I did go beyond four, even though Faldage won't hear that "Down!" can be a bona fide interjection.
I guess when the Max challenges four, it hurts that nobody notices tht you've come up with at least five. Jackie would have noticed I'd gone beyond Max's challenge of four if she'd been reading this thread. I know she would have.
Anyway, you might think that I'm a bit touchy on this topic, but I'm actually appreciative that et' pointed out my duplication of one part of speech.
I am in a bad mood and I hate it that certain people always get congratulated and that it appears that if, quote-end-quote Dub-Dub says anything, I say anything, it automatically appears that an idiot has said anything. And I ain't an idiot though some of you people treat me like an idiot. I ain't perfect, but I ain't an idiot either.
Depressed,
WW
re:I am in a bad mood and I hate it that certain people always get congratulated and that it appears that if, quote-end-quote Dub-Dub says anything, I say anything, it automatically appears that an idiot has said anything. And I ain't an idiot though some of you people treat me like an idiot. I ain't perfect, but I ain't an idiot either.
WW, we poor, mortal creatures some times show hurbirs with those we would see as gods--forgetting those that we have elevated, are themselves but mere mortals, that we have put on pedistals..
sometimes it is our envy , sometimes, we are just careless, but never, meanness...
i am one who is amazed by the 'mild divertions' in word play.., and even this thread, has captivated me, while eluding me.. i am humbled by others word play here... and keep returning here to see new wonders!
ask me to find a noun or verb in a sentence, i can, but ask me to find words that can function as nouns, verbs, adverbs, and other part of speach, and you might as well ask me to serve the moon up as cheese with crackers. this is a great thread. thank you.
well, I'm sorry, WW. perhaps it was my f*ck mantling that diverted attention from your wonderful find. I couldn't find a good word so I just used sex...
hey, there's one: sex
Well, since I seem to have been the unintentional catalyst for your malaise d'esprit, WW, I had better aploogise for any pain caused. If it makes you feel better, I think that every one of the regulars would have experienced the sensation of having some gem, of which they were particularly proud, overlooked as a common bauble. It's certainly happened to me a few times, and I've cerainly been guilty of doing the overlooking more than once as well. Still, if any place is a meritocracy, this place is, so the best you can do is keep turning out the gems, and know that, sooner or later, some will be recognised and appreciated.
But: If you said to a dog, "Down!" wouldn't that be an interjection? That would be six, wouldn't it?
I respectfully disagree. If you said "Down!" to a dog, you would be issuing a command with the implied verb "get." Down is a preposition here (either that or an adverb -- it's too early for me to tell). Unless of course you had just poured the dog a martini and were ordering him to drink it, in which case you would be uttering a command with the verb "to down" in the imperative.
...no one even noticed that I found a word that could reasonably function as seven out of eight parts of speech.
I'm down with that.
And, Alex, you're absolutely correct about "Down!" as was somebody else.
You all:
I apologize for my outburst the other night. It had been a bad day at school--my kids had turned in really horrible examples of writing. I just groaned and felt completely 'down' because it seemed that they simply were refusing to use their brains. So, I came here for respite--and I just felt that even here when at least I'd gone beyond Max's four nobody had noticed. On an ordinary day, I would have thought, just as someone pointed out above, "Oh, well. Nobody noticed. Big deal. It happens around here all the time." But I was just so terribly stressed out with worry and disappointment over my kids--and so I blew up here. It does seem that certain people here are noticed for every breath they take and others are ignored for turning pretty cool linguistic flips. And I'm as guilty as the next person for not taking note of those flips each time.
Anyway, I do apologize for being so stupidly hypersensitive night before last, and I'll try to mend my ways.
So, which word in the language functions as the most parts of speech? What is 'down' down to now with the astute corrections you all have provided? Noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition. Five. Have many did Faldage's OED 'while' citation list?
Noun, adverb, adjective, conunction, preposition, verb.
That's, umm, lessee… 1, 2, … ,6!
I'll mention your while for a while, Faldage, after we've covered all those parts of speech--sometime this spring since we're still working at a feverish pitch (and a loud one, too, at times) on prepositions, nouns and objective case pronouns.
I especially like your conunction. Just had to...
Just had to...
Hey, better you than a lot of people I could think of.
Dear Wordwind. We girls should not let the cocky win-at-any-cost voice of the insecure males of our species change reality just to preem. Mr. faldage is a type example.
All words are interjections to dogs! Communication requires comprehension. A dog has no conception of "down", he reacts. "Down" is therefore an interjection. Tell faldage to go kiss a cow!
Don't apologize. Make the dolts prove their point.
It speaks volumes for Wordwind's character that she was prepared to publicly concede that she was wrong, and to apologise for an error. It speaks volumes for yours that you fail to grasp this.
Well, at least consider the comment of a student I was working with after school today. He's never really concentrated on parts of speech before in his life, and he has been quite confused so far this year.
However, a few light bulbs have gone off--and he even made the connection between "object of the preposition" and the "objective case pronouns" today. He also laughed when I told him that on the test I would try to trap kids by calling proper nouns a part of speech in a multiple choice listing of various incorrect and one correct listing. He's coming along so well that I got tears in my eyes right after he left me today. There is no high higher in my life than seeing a student begin to understand. It is the best thing I know.
I asked him to name the parts of speech (one of many practices) and he said,
"Noun...pronoun...verb....adjective....adverb....suburb....conjunction....and ejaculation."
And I promise you I am telling God's truth. I can hold my laughter almost always, but when he said that final part of speech I burst out laughing and laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed so hard that he began laughing with me, all the while asking, "What's so funny, Ms. E? What's so funny?"
Indeed, Mrs. E., what is so funny? The boy is simply a mite old-fashioned. I quote from Webster's dictionary (
http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=ejaculation):
2. The uttering of a short, sudden exclamation or prayer, or the exclamation or prayer uttered.
He is merely unaware that our sex-obsessed society has focused on the biological aspects of the third definition. Such innocence should surely be enouraged as eminently praiseworthy rather than provoke unbridled laughter.
Bingley
"one doesn't often hear 'down!' while ejaculating", he interjected...
I'm glad I'm not the only one, Bingley. I had actually had to look twice before I got the joke.
Name calling, aka the ad hominem approach, is so needless and unfriendly. I wish you and the tiny minority of others who resort to this m.o. would refrain and, instead, participate in the spirit of this board.
As for interjections, I disagree, and I am also a "girl." It's a matter of begging the question here, I think. The word in this context is an adverb no matter what the dog does.
Bingley,
I certainly realize that ejaculations can be verbal! Lord, what do you take me for?
However, after moving from suburbs to ejaculations, I just was so amused that I couldn't hold my laughter. And, you know? We were working after school, Friday afternoon, and were happy to be working--both of us. We pulled down maps, books, wrote, tried all kinds of combinations--and we worked a long, productive period of time. Things were coming together in this our second Friday afternoon of after-school sessions. Forgive me for being human, but I just couldn't help it. And he was as amused at me for being spontaneous rather than the usually under-control being my more pedigogical persona is.
Let me immediately put on my pince-nez and purse my lips and return to suburbs and ejaculations and adverbs and interjections with complete fastidiousness and congratulate him on his synonym for interjection. Lord, this suit of steel wool feels good.
Suburbs? Is that a joke? /needs more coffee
You all must not work with kids very often, is all I can say--or at least with kids who have gotten basic information mixed up over the years. Or with kids who at times have trouble with auditory processing.
For the record, the fact that this work is wonderfully rewarding--that a teenaged student who had detested English in previous years was willing to stay after school on a Friday afternoon--remember your own Friday afternoons in high school?--was terrific. And that he'd remembered to come by my classroom for two Fridays in a row! Wow!
So, we looked at maps and books together--and wrote a lot--and talked a lot about words in the language...differences between prepositions and their objects, for instance. This was a step-by-step procedure with several steps backwards. For instance, we worked the classic exercise where you draw a cloud and then think of words that would fit this construction:
The bird flew ____________ + the cloud.
The bird flew ____________ + the clouds.
It doesn't work for every preposition, such 'according to' and 'aside from', but it works for most of the hundred I use on our working list. Every now and then my student would say something like, "The clouds went over the sky." And I knew he'd lost focus on putting clouds as the object of the preposition. But, by and large, most of his reponses filled in the formula well--and he went on to replace either 'the cloud' or 'the clouds' with either 'it' or 'them'. You might think that this sounds terribly dry, but it wasn't because I was witnessing the joy on his face as he realized really important things, such as when we plugged in objective case pronouns as objects of prepositions, he said, "It sounds wrong to say 'about I'"--and I thought, 'Hallelujah!'
Anyway, at the end of a very long session when I had him list those eight parts of speech and, although he nailed most of them, he said 'suburb' and 'ejaculation', it just cracked me up. And I cracked him up when I cracked up. We're on the right path here, and, no, I wouldn't have gone into various definitions of ejaculation with a student. Quite improper.
Speaking of speaking volumes: We were working after school, Friday afternoon...and we worked a long, productive period of time...our second Friday afternoon of after-school sessions. My Dear--it is a rare gem of a teacher who is willing to stay after on a Friday. They will remember you for the rest of their lives, I think. Because so few teachers make it so clear that they care.
MELT--I bid you welcome aBoard, but feel obliged to add this: by and large, we love each other, here; many of us have become friends, both virtually and in real life. We do try to welcome newcomers; but frankly, we don't like ugliness of any kind. (Um--I don't mean to imply that we're perfectly free of it all the time; we're not.) I do realize that sometimes there is teasing here that may appear ugly, but it is done between friends who know that the recipient will take it in the right spirit; and that a newcomer would have no way of knowing the background. And I guess if that upsets a newcomer, we'll just have to keep explaining; I don't think it's realistic to expect a group to constantly be on their guard in case new people might be around; and also, I for one would miss the fun. Quite recently I jumped on a newcomer quite hard, for me, but she had directly insulted someone whom I hold very dear (yours wasn't quite so direct). I tried to get it across that I would welcome sincere interest in information- and fun-exchange, but as far as I know she hasn't posted again, and I do feel bad about that. But I will not sit idly by when my friends are under the gun, and I make no apology for that.
I say all this to you, MELT, not as chastisement--it would also be unrealistic to expect a newcomer to understand all the nuances/ins and outs--but by way of giving information, with a tad of warning in it. We do welcome differences of opinions, truly; but if someone has something ugly to say, then I would ask that it be done by Private Message, not in public, please.
