At 6:51 AM 10/12/97 -0400, "" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >---------------------- Information from the mail header ----------------------- >Sender: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar > <[log in to unmask]> >Poster: "<Janet Master>" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: Period or Question Mark? >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >I vote in favor of the question mark, inside quotation marks. How would the >sample in question differ in structure from a quote introduced by "he said," >or "he asked"? Such would also form complete sentences in themselves, the >quotation itself functioning as the direct object of the larger sentence, >wouldn't they? >My question comes directly from a grammar worksheet. In the sentence, "The >treasure is worth two million dollars," what part of speech is "worth"? The >answer key labels it as a verb. >Janet Master Janet: I would call "worth" an adjective, functioning as a subject complement after the linking-be. Quirk et al., in their wonderful "Comprehensive Grammar" call it a preposition, with the noun phrase following as its object. But it has no qualities of verbness--you can't add an -s or an -ing. Martha Kolln