Question

Name the part of speech of the underlined word in the following sentence:
It weighs about a pound.
a. Adverb
b. Adjective
c. Pronoun
d. Preposition

Answer 1

Hint: Part of speech is a category or group which consists of the words which has similar grammatical or syntactic properties.

Complete answer:
In English, words can be classified into nine major categories - noun, pronoun, adjective, determiner, preposition, verb, adverb, conjunction and interjection. We observe that in the given sentence, ‘about’ means nearly or approximately. It is describing the verb, ‘weighs’.

Let us analyse the given options to find out the correct answer.
> Adverb is a group of words which are used to describe a verb or an adjective.
For example: It is a beautifully written piece of poetry.
Here, ‘beautifully’ is the adverb as it describes the verb ‘wrote’.
We observe that ‘about’ correctly fits the description of an adverb as it is also being used to describe a verb. Hence, option ‘a’ is the correct answer.

> Adjective is a group of words used to describe a noun or a pronoun.
For example: Sara has very beautiful eyes.
Here, ‘beautiful’ is the adjective as it describes the noun, ‘Sara’.
We observe that ‘about’ does not fit the description of an adjective as it does not describe a noun. Hence, option ‘b’ is not the correct answer.

> Pronoun is used to substitute a noun or a noun phrase.
For example: Sara loves chocolates but she doesn't like chocolate flavoured ice creams.
Here, ‘she’ is the pronoun as it substitutes the noun, ‘Sara’.
We observe that ‘about’ does not fit the description of a pronoun as it is not being used to substitute a noun.

> Prepositions are used to form a link between a noun or a noun phrase with another element of the sentence.
For example: She left from home early in the morning.
Here, ‘from’ is the preposition as it forms a link between the noun, ‘home’ and the verb, ‘left’.
We observe that ‘about’ does not fit the description of a preposition as it does not form any link between a noun and another element of the sentence.

Thus, option ‘a’ - adverb is the correct answer.

Note: About can also be used as a preposition. For example: She did not know about his profession. Here, ‘about’ acts as a preposition because it is being used to form a link between the noun phrase,‘his job’ and the verb, ‘know’.