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?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word "but" has six jobs to do:

wordpart of speechexample
worknounMy work is easy.
verbI work in London.
butconjunctionJohn came but Mary didn't come.
prepositionEveryone came but Mary.
welladjectiveAre you well?
adverbShe speaks well.
interjectionWell! That's expensive!
afternoonnounWe ate in the afternoon.
noun acting as adjectiveWe had afternoon tea.

Now check your understanding »

Parts of Speech Quiz

1 I bought a (beautiful) dress at the mall.
adverb
preposition
adjective
noun

Answer:adjective

2 What did (she) ask you to do?
verb
conjunction
preposition
pronoun

Answer:pronoun

3 I left my shoes (under) the kitchen table.
adverb
adjective
preposition
pronoun

Answer:preposition

4 If we finish our work (quickly) we can go to the movies.
adjective
adverb
conjunction
verb

Answer:adverb

5 On Saturdays I (work) from nine to five.
noun
verb
preposition
adverb

Answer:verb

6 I want to go to a (university) in the United States.
verb
adjective
preposition
noun

Answer:noun

7 I'm sure I have (met) your girlfriend before.
noun
verb
preposition
interjection

Answer:verb

8 (Well,) I don't think I will be here to answer the phone.
conjunction
interjection
preposition
pronoun

Answer:interjection

9 Andy knocked on the door (but) nobody answered.
pronoun
adverb
adjective
conjunction

Answer:conjunction

10 (After) lunch let's go out for a coffee.
adverb
pronoun
preposition
verb

Answer:preposition