For those using the traditional scheme, the two positions may not even appear to be contradictory. One important difference between the way that linguistics and traditional grammar treats parts of speech is that for linguists parts of speech (if they even use the term) are lexical categories. Traditional grammar, on the other hand, begins by speaking of parts of speech as word-level categories, but then changes the rules of the game and uses the same terms for other units. It also makes little distinction between form and function. Therefore, in books like Warriner's, anything that modifies a noun is called an adjective, be they determiners, participial phrases, prepositional phrases, relative clauses. So if you're following a book like Warriner's, it would be logical to conclude that they are both accurate. Karl Ronald Sheen wrote: > My thanks to Johanna, Richard, Martha, Herb, Atchley and Richard (and any > future contributors) for their useful and often detailed comments. > > It would be interesting to know how many teachers, though aware of the > possessive pronoun argument, still teach that they're possessive > adjectives. > > Ron Sheen. > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/