Of contrastive typology

Word class membership

Although the description above may give the impression that any one word within a single meaning belongs exclusively to one word class, you should note that this is not the case. Study the words in bold in the following examples:

• 
  I couldn’t give her an immediate answer .
  
• 
  I was surprised when he answered my letter.
  
• 
  Do not write on the front of the answer sheet.
  

• 
  In the first sentence, answer is being used as a noun – note the attributive adjectiveimmediate and the word an, both indicative of a following noun.
  
• 
  In the second, answer is a verb – the subject he and the ending –ed­ show this.
  
• 
  While in the third, answer tells you what kind of sheet is being talked about and is, therefore, an adjective.
  

This flexibility in word class membership is a peculiar feature of English among the European languages, many of which would require different endings to show the class of the word.