Words with More than One Job
Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than
one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be
a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an
interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives.
To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is
this word doing in this sentence?"
Here are some examples:
| word |
part of speech |
example |
| work |
noun |
My work is easy. |
| verb |
I work in London. |
| but |
conjunction |
John came but Mary didn't come. |
| preposition |
Everyone came but Mary. |
| well |
adjective |
Are you well? |
| adverb |
She speaks well. |
| interjection |
Well! That's expensive! |
| afternoon |
noun |
We ate in the afternoon. |
| noun acting as adjective |
We had afternoon tea. |
These are just a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for
some of the words above. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see
that the word but has six jobs to do:
- verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjuction!
Now check your understanding
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