042 Multitasking of Parts of Speech

Dictionary definitions of words, contain an indication, about their parts of speech, such as 'n', 'vt', 'vit', adj, adv etc.

Experience shows that we cannot confine ourselves within the framework of these rigid definitions.

The part-of-speech demarcations in grammar have the same value as the role demarkations in bureaucratic organisations. A software engineer may have to do the work of a sale representative and vice versa. The cross-usage becomes unavoidable for flexibility even in organisations which follow the most formal functional boundaries. Some organisations permit and encourage the tresspassing of role-definitions. Some organisations tolerate.

English language permits free cross-usage i.e. use of noun as adjective, adjective as noun, noun as adverb, adverb as noun, adjective as adverb, adverb as adjective, etc. We can have any number of permutations and combinations.

EXAMPLE:
This is a great country. The word 'this' is a subject-pronoun-noun.

I am leaving this morning. The word 'this' is an adjective. 'Morning' is a noun.

I am catching the morning train. The word 'morning' is adjective. 'Train' is noun.

I have bought my train ticket. The word 'train' has become an adjective. 'Ticket' is noun.

Does ABC Express have travelling train ticket examiners? - Here, 'travelling' is adj 1. 'Train' is adverb. Ticket is adj 2. Examiner is the noun. What type of examiner? - Ticket examiner. What type of ticket? - train ticket. If the word train describes the the nature of ticket which is an adjective, the train becomes an adverb.

We cannot take train as adjective because in 'train examiner', the examiner examines trains and not tickets.

Use of many adverbs and many adjectives can reduce clarity. Yet we cannot avoid. Another example:-

"Chief General Manager". What type of Manager? 'General' is the adjective which describes him. The adverb 'Chief' describes the adjective 'General', in the sense that he is Chief among the 'General Managers'. We have to use the phrase 'Chief Manager' if he is a chief among Managers.

The Quiz part is here now:
QUIZ USING GEORGE BERNARD SHAW'S VOCABULARY. WORK: DOCTOR'S DILEMMA.
Note: I have abridged and revised the sentences to extract the words/phrases we need for our grammatical/vocabulary study.
I have selected sentences which use a phrase structure of 'adverb-adjective-noun'. Identify the 'part of speech' of the capitalised word.

1: Newspapers sell their reports to IDLY curious people. ANSWER
2: Cutler Walpole is an ENERGETIC, unhesitating man of forty. ANSWER
3: Jennifer, beautifully dressed and APPARENTLY very happy and prosperous, comes into the gallery.ANSWER

4: Walpole has a cleanly modelled face, very decisive and symmetrical about the shortish,
salient, RATHER pretty nose, and the three trimly turned corners made by his chin and jaws.ANSWER

5: Ridgeon's face is a GOOD DEAL lined.ANSWER

6: The lines in Ridgeon's face are those of overwork and restless SCEPTICISM.ANSWER

7: It is an entirely different BACILLUS.ANSWER

8: Every one of these INTERESTING little creatures has an imitator.ANSWER

9: It is what I suppose you would call a fashionable practice, a smart practice, a practice AMONG THE BEST PEOPLE. ANSWER

10: Well, if you apply ANY scientific test known to me, you will achieve a reductio
ad absurdum . ANSWER

SOME THOUGHT-PROVOKING QUESTIONS ON ROLE-PLAY
We need not limit grammar issues and questions to grammar. They extend even to our life. We are only ONE individuals as persons. We play multiple roles of a 'father', 'mother', 'brother', 'sister', 'employer', 'employee',
'seller', 'buyer', 'citizen' ... We shift our roles very fast in a day. We, sometimes, stick on to our roles and argue within ourselves and with others, raising stress within us and within those with whom we interact. Quick painless switches from one role to another seem to help us become happier.