Is It A Noun Or A Verb

Is it a noun or a verb? Is context enough to display the difference? By M. Abdessalami

Introduction: The graphic relationship between a noun and a verb in many situations is very close and it sometimes creates a sort of bewilderment for most non-native English language speakers especially those who use a European language, French, Italian, and others. It is through context and spelling that the distinction can be made. It is sometimes very tricky to tell if a given word is a noun or a verb unless it is used in a context or unless one detects a slight spelling difference between the words. However the main difficulty dwells rather in the writing more than in the reading. Nonnative speakers of English have to pay attention to the very special relationship which exists between many Noun-Verb families.

Look-alikes "Dance" or "Dance"? In many cases the verb and the noun are twins in spelling and meaning; that's why, grammatically speaking, it is tough to make the difference between the two when they manifest discrete. You can not decide which is which unless they are used in a context. When the word "dance", for instance, is isolated, nobody, even native speakers, can tell if it is a noun or a verb. Look at this example, - "You can dance ... Save the last dance for me!" Dolly Parton The first “dance” is obviously a verb whereas the second is a noun. Examples as such are seen in terms of twins and some of them are:

Is it a verb or a noun ?

trade

design

roar

win

puzzle

rain

start

show

fish

haunt

water

call

work

drink

change

talk

sleep

cut

question

...

« Watch » or « watch »? Very so often the verb and noun have the same spelling but they don't dovetail in the final meaning. That is they have different fields of performance. Here is an example: - I'd like to watch that match with you, but I have to buy a watch first. The first “watch” is clearly a verb whereas the second is a noun designing the small timepiece which we generally wear on our wrists. The verb here has nothing to do with the noun they are not of the same relation. They only share the spelling feature. I mean they do not relate to each other in the sense that "dance" is related to "dance". The same thing can be said about the word "play": */ The musician plays the banjo.

(verb)

*/ "Othello" is one of Shakespeare's plays

(noun).

Here are some examples of the words in this category:

bear

cast

cut

fly

leave

ring

sink

steal

...

...

Illustration

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Is it a verb or a noun ? bear (v) [simple past] bore - [past participle] borne 1. I can’t bear eating the same thing everyday. bear (n) 2. She told me that the polar bear is deaf. cast (v) cast - cast 1. Don’t cast your eyes from me when I am talking to you. cast (n) 2. We won’t need the whole cast on stage in the following Act. cut (v) cut - cut 1. She cut her finger badly. cut (n) 2. As the cut was deep they took her to hospital immediately. fly (v) flew - flown 1. Birds can fly high in the sky easily 2. Can she really fly a plane? fly (n) 3. The fly is a disgusting insect. left - left leave (v) 1. We shouldn’t leave the baby alone. 2. We are not allowed to leave before 5 pm. leave (n) 3. She took an unpaid leave to take care of her sick mother. ring (v) rang - rung 1. You can either knock at the door or ring the bell. ring (n) 2. The wedding ring costs a lot of money. sink (v) sank - sunk 1. Fish never sink sink (n) 2. I usually have a problem with this bloody kitchen sink steal (v) stole - stolen 1. He wanted to steal my mobile phone, by I saw him. steal (n) This ruler is made of steal. I think it is stainless.

Spelling tricks "Advice" or "Advise"

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Is it a verb or a noun ? Some words can tell you if they are nouns or verbs by a spelling difference which makes them known even when they are isolated. For example: "advice" and "advise". They don't therefore need a context to introduce themselves as a verb or a noun. Yet if one is not careful, he may write the verb with "c" just like the noun; which is inaccurate.

| Examples: - "For a taste of your [...], I'll give you some advice" Kenny Rogers

(noun)

- "Advise none to marry or go to war."

(verb)

Proverb: (1640)

When it comes to some particular words many students could be torn apart between which is the noun and which is the verb. Take for instance the word “practice". Is it a noun or a verb? In general, the word "practice" is more a noun than a verb. Only the Americans choose to write the verb with "c" whereas the British spell the verb this way: practise with "s". If you say, for example, - If you practise your English, you'll improve it. - If you practice your English, you'll improve it. You have nothing to worry about in this case because both spellings are correct. Yet this is not a rule for all words.

Get into trouble! Can you spot the verbs in this "proverb"

"Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you." The verbs in the sentences are "Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you." Can you spot the nouns now

"Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you." The nouns then are M. Abdessalami

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Is it a verb or a noun ? "Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you." The real trouble, however, is when you deal with some particular verbs which acquire somehow complicated transformations before they become nouns. Therefore, changing a verb into a noun or vice versa passes by derivation, or say, by adding suffixes. Look at this example:

☺ Verb: "to clean" ☺ Adjective: "clean" ☺ Adverb: "cleanly" ☺ Noun: "cleanliness" On the other hand, some adjectives can transform into verbs and nouns through some surgical operations. I mean by grafting some limbs to them. These limbs are generally suffixes; but most of the time the word needs be completely changed. Look at these examples:

ADJECTIVE

VERB

NOUN

dark

•

to darken

darkness

wide

•

to widen

width

strong

•

to strengthen

strength

deep

•

to deepen

depth

......

•

......

......

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M. Abdessalami

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