Part of speech question

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I am having trouble with this sentence, too:

Every teacher is out sick.

What part of speech is out? I would think an adverb, but I learned that state of being verbs can't take adverbs. Is that not true?

Thanks!

Avangi · Accepted Answer

christilouI am having trouble with this sentence, too:
Every teacher is out sick.

Me too!

I guess we're all off for the weekend!
Welcome to English Forums, christilou. Thanks for joining us! [<:o)]

Someone will be along to help you, I'm sure!

Both of your posts are similar in that we'd like to treat two words as one.

Compound adverbs? "out there" "out sick" ??

Compound nouns? I ate "almost all"! "nearly all"! ??

I can only guess, so I'd better not.

Don't give up on us!

Best wishes! - A.

Edit. We usually think of "out" as an adverb: I threw it out. That teacher is out.
But if we say "I threw it out there," then "there" is the adverb and "out" is a preposition - like "up there."
But that doesn't seem to work. How can an adverb be object of a preposition??
My dictionary gives only noun objects: out the window; out this door.

The teacher is sick. "Sick" is an adjective complement to the linking verb.

The teacher is out sick. "Out sick" is the complement, but is it a prepositional phrase?
The teacher is up a tree?

Anyway, we'll give you A+ for stumping me.

Cheer up! Help will come!

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