Clearly, Paul, if "fun" is being used as an adjective, then it is an
adjective, at least in speech. Of course, it is not accepted as such by
many grammar mavens.
I suggest you discuss with your students how language changes, and that
the movement of 'fun' into the adjective category is recent. It is
moving in gradually; it does not yet have all adj. 'privileges' (e.g.
"funner, funnest" are not yet common, even among staunch users of 'fun'
as adj.). You can discuss the fact that language change is one of the
things that distinguishes older from younger generations. Also, that
changes most often begin in informal language and may slowly become
accepted formal language. At this point, 'fun' is acceptable as an
adjective in informal language, but students are safer to avoid such
usage in their formal writing.
Of course, this assumes they can tell when they are using as an
adjective vs. a noun. If that's the problem, you have to get them to
figure this out first.
I think bringing in the age angle increases students' interest in
talking about grammar. My students always love it when I talk about
this. For instance, I tell them that we just have to wait for the people
who know the rule well enough to care about it to die off. That always
gets a chuckle.
Any time you can bring society into grammar discussions is good--it
reminds students that language isn't just a small inventory of rules in
a book, but a sort of organism that is continually shaped by its users.
***************************************************
Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, Cal Poly State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. 805-756-2184 ~ Dept. phone 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374 ~ E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
***************************************************
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