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Words with More than One Duty

English, the universal language is fun to learn but sometimes complicated. Many words in English can have more than one duty, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "eye" can be a verb and a noun; "long" can be used as an adjective and an adverb. English can be complicated but with practice and exercises you can learn the difference. The following chart will give you an idea of the overlapping process that happens in what is called the open class. English can be fun.

Look at the following chart:

word

part of speech

example

work

noun

My work is easy.

verb

I work in London.

well

adjective

Are you well?

adverb

She speaks well.

afternoon

noun

We ate in the afternoon.

noun acting as adjective

We had afternoon tea.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this sentence?"

Parts of Speech

Written Practice Exercise

I. In this exercise we are presenting the overlapping of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, which belong to the open class. Through this exercise we can also see the morphological processes of changing from one class to another.

The Expected Kiss

Maria has beautiful blue eyes. Juan usually eyed her in class because she wasn’t the usual kind of girl. He longingly admired her long thin neck. As he was looking at her neck, he fantasized about necking with her. He loved her beautiful smile and smiled at her often. He handed her a love letter, which she took with her graceful hands. It said, “You have a luscious mouth. I want to kiss you.” She gracefully mouthed him a reply, “After class.”

Let's practice...

Parts of Speech

(Overlapping of verbs and nouns, adjectives and adverbs)

Practice Drill

Instructions: Read the sentences and identify if the bolded words are nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.

Example: José is the head ---(adjective)---member of the football team.

1. As José headed --------------------------to the field, he fell.

2. The ball hit him on the head---------------------.

3. He hurt his shoulder------------------ when he fell.

4. Furthermore, someone shouldered--------------------------- him during the game.

5. He quickly------------------ bandaged his shoulder and got right back to the game.

6. He threw the ball to the quickest--------------------------------- member of his team.

7. José handed--------------------------- the ball to his friend.

8. His friend’s hand --------------------was shaking with excitement.

9. The guys were sure about winning the game so they smiled------------------- at each other.

10. Their smiles-------------------were contagious and suddenly everybody had happy faces.