part of speech

Question

HiShe went to her school by bus.Here considering that her modifies school, is it not an adjective?Can we accept her to be called a pronoun here?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

vsureshCan we accept her to be called a pronoun here?

There are various names applied to that kind of word: adjective, possessive adjective, pronoun, possessive pronoun, determiner.

I prefer 'possessive adjective' or 'determiner'. You can't substitute a noun so 'pronoun' seems wrong to me.

CJ

Clive · Answer

I call it a possessive adjective. So does my Oxford dictionary.

But I think more modern grammar analysis may consider it a pronoun

Clive

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJim You can't substitute a noun so 'pronoun' seems wrong to me.

I suppose the pronoun people feel that you can substitute a noun in its possessive form - Mary's, for example.

I was a possessive adjective man for many years. These days, I go with just 'possessive'.

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you, CJ and fivejedjon.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonI suppose the pronoun people feel that you can substitute a noun in its possessive form - Mary's, for example.

I suppose they do feel that way. But if they deny that the addition of an inflection can change a word class (Mary / Mary's), how do they feel about 'beautiful' — a pronoun because it's a form of 'beauty'? We'll have to ask them some day.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimWe'll have to ask them some day.

I don't think I'll bother.

RandomGuy · Answer

vsuresh"her" modifies school

Going by these explanations of the term modifier, I’d have to disagree with that.

vsureshCan we accept "her" to be called a pronoun here?

Yes, since it takes the place of a noun in its possessive form.

CalifJimhow do they feel about 'beautiful' — a pronoun because it's a form of 'beauty'?

more beautiful / the most beautiful / a beautiful sunset / The sunset is absolutely beautiful--

*more her / *the most her / *a her sunset / *The sunset is absolutely her--

The main problem I have with calling her, my, etc., adjectives is that they fail all of the adjective tests, except that they are always followed by a noun. But if that’s all that is required for a word to make the adjective category, then we might as well call articles adjectives, too.

Determiner is an improvement, but I’m not a big fan of that either because it ignores the referential nature of these words.

Vsuresh · Answer

Hi Aspara Gus
I'm afraid I am unable to understand this. What does it refer to here?
Determiner is an improvement, but I’m not a big fan of that either because it ignores the referential nature of these words.

Fivejedjon · Answer

vsureshHi Aspara GusI'm afraid I am unable to understand this. What does it refer to here?Determiner is an improvement, but I’m not a big fan of that either because it ignores the referential nature of these words.

I'll leave AG to answer for himself.

I'll just say that labels are words used by people who write about grammar as a useful shorthand. 'Noun', for example, spares us the effort of saying/writing "a word or group of words used for referring to a person, thing, place, or quality" (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/noun). Some words,such as those in the following sentence, are relatively easy to label: Peter cruelly shot the black dog. Others do not slot so easily into seven, eight, nine, etc, categories. Words such as my, your, her, his, our, their, seem to function in some ways like adjectives (big), in some ways like nouns (Mary's) and in other ways like the more recent class of determiners (the). Writers tend to choose a label that suits their particular views. From time to time, some of us like to explain why our label is better than somebody else's.

None of us is 'right', and few of us are 'wrong'. What really matters is whether a label helps learners understand and produce English. Whether they can themselves label or not is irrelevant.

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