A Role-Shifting Roundup of the Parts of Speech

Readers of ancient myths and modern science fiction will be familiar with the notion of shapeshifting: changing from one form (say that of a human) to another (a wolf, for instance, or a frog). In grammar, an opposite process--called role shifting--occurs when a word keeps the same shape but assumes a different function in a sentence.

The common noun wolf, for example, becomes a verb when we want to describe how fast and greedily people are eating: "The rescued hikers wolf down a dinner of granola bars and chocolates."

As discussed in our review of the eight Basic Parts of Speech, we need to consider a word's meaning, position, and use in a sentence before knowing for sure what part of speech it is. Beware: many words in English are role shifters!

One of the shiftiest of all is the simple word round. Most commonly, of course, it's an adjective (a round face or figure), but round can also serve as a noun (a round of golf), a verb (to round a corner), an adverb (wheels that spin round), and a preposition (a plant that grows round the year).

With the help of a good dictionary, you might want to check out three more common role shifters--home, near, and fast--to see how many parts of speech each of these words can become.