THE SAME WORD AS DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH
24. The meaning of a word in the sentence determines to what part of speech it belongs.
The same word may be sometimes one part of speech, sometimes another.
Words of entirely separate origin, meaning, and use sometimes look and sound alike: as in “The minstrel sang a plaintive lay,” and “He lay on the ground.” But the following examples ([§ 25]) show that the same word may have more than one kind of grammatical office (or function). It is the meaning which we give to a word in the sentence that determines its classification as a part of speech.
25. The chief classes of words thus variously used are (1) nouns and adjectives, (2) nouns and verbs, (3) adjectives and adverbs, (4) adjectives and pronouns, (5) adverbs and prepositions.
| Nouns | Adjectives |
|---|---|
| Rubber comes from South America. | This wheel has a rubber tire. |
| That brick is yellow. | Here is a brick house. |
| The rich have a grave responsibility. | A rich merchant lives here. |
The first two examples show how words that are commonly nouns may be used as adjectives; the third shows how words that are commonly adjectives may be used as nouns.
| Nouns | Verbs |
|---|---|
| Hear the wash of the tide. | Wash those windows. |
| Give me a stamp. | Stamp this envelope. |
| It is the call of the sea. | Ye call me chief. |
Other examples are:
- act,
- address,
- ally,
- answer,
- boast,
- care,
- cause,
- close,
- defeat,
- doubt,
- drop,
- heap,
- hope,
- mark,
- offer,
- pile,
- place,
- rest,
- rule,
- sail,
- shape,
- sleep,
- spur,
- test,
- watch,
- wound.