Author Topic: What part of speech is "water" . . . (Read 3030 times)

Icarus · « **on:** November 03, 2004, 05:45:09 AM »

. . . in "water gun," "water hose," "water table," "water balloon," "water crackers," etc?

Porter · « **Reply #1 on:** November 03, 2004, 07:55:06 AM »

Adjective.

Jonathon · « **Reply #2 on:** November 03, 2004, 08:23:09 AM »

Noun. More specifically, an attributive noun.

Quote

Main Entry: at·trib·u·tive
Pronunciation: &-'tri-by&-tiv
Function: adjective
1 : relating to or of the nature of an attribute : ATTRIBUTING
2 : joined directly to a modified noun without a linking verb (as city in city streets)

Porter · « **Reply #3 on:** November 03, 2004, 08:38:47 AM »

Granted, I haven't taken grammer for a looooooong time, but I thought that attributive nouns are adjectives.

Jonathon · « **Reply #4 on:** November 03, 2004, 08:44:50 AM »

They function like adjectives, but they aren't really adjectives. I can't remember exactly why, and I'll have to wait until I get home to check my grammar books.

Jonathon · « **Reply #5 on:** November 03, 2004, 06:14:08 PM »

Okay, here we go. The reason it's not a true adjective is that it doesn't inflect (you can't say "waterest gun") and it can't be used predicatively ("the gun is water"). A true adjective can do both of those things. But it's not technically a compound noun, because the first element modifies the second like an adjective.

Porter · « **Reply #6 on:** November 03, 2004, 10:05:47 PM »

Dude. That actually makes sense.

Icarus · « **Reply #7 on:** November 04, 2004, 03:55:08 AM »

Okay, so if there was a question on Millionaire, say, "Which of the following cannot be used as an adjective?" Though you say it is not an adjective, technically, isn't it being used as one in the examples I provided? (This is purely an academic question; just me being a geek.)

Sheila · « **Reply #8 on:** November 04, 2004, 07:05:43 AM »

Get a life.

Porter · « **Reply #9 on:** November 04, 2004, 07:32:43 AM »

You know, last time somebody said that, it wasn't a pretty site...

Sheila · « **Reply #10 on:** November 04, 2004, 07:36:13 AM »

So is it too soon to make jokes? Darn, I was laughing pretty hard when I typed that.

Porter · « **Reply #11 on:** November 04, 2004, 08:03:16 AM »

If you could hear my tone of voice, you'd know that I thought it was funny too.

Jonathon · « **Reply #12 on:** November 04, 2004, 08:04:34 AM »

Quote

Okay, so if there was a question on Millionaire, say, "Which of the following cannot be used as an adjective?" Though you say it is not an adjective, technically, isn't it being used as one in the examples I provided? (This is purely an academic question; just me being a geek.)

It is indeed being used as an adjective, but it seems like it's probably one of those grey areas of grammar that depends on which grammar book you check. But if that were the question, I think you'd be safe. If there's a dispute, they usually rule in favor of the contestant.

Oh, and forget what I said earlier about it not being a true adjective because it doesn't inflect. There are other adjectives that don't (like only).

Sheila · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2004, 08:04:44 AM »

It's because you changed your signature. Now your tone makes no sense to me!

FLR · « **Reply #14 on:** November 04, 2004, 10:45:16 AM »

:hail: Jon Boy.

I didn't even think of the inflection test for part of speech. Well, I almost had it, as the term "watering can" was floating around in my head. But I couldn't get it to make sense.

Have I been off hatrack for a week, even? I was just thinking last night when I made super member that it hadn't taken me very long.

Porter · « **Reply #15 on:** November 04, 2004, 10:47:28 AM »

Yeah, about a week.