Which part of speech is ...?

[learning54]

Hi teachers,
Which part of speech is 'tickets' in the following question?

How many tickets is Caroline going to buy for the concert?

Thanks in advance

[5jj]

This is a surprising question, given the knowledge of English you have displayed in other posts.

It's a noun. Did you think it might be something else?

[learning54]

This is a surprising question, given the knowledge of English you have displayed in other posts.

It's a noun. Did you think it might be something else?

Hi,
Sorry I may have expressed myself really badly. I meant if, 'How many' is the question word, 'is' is an auxiliary verb, 'Caroline' is the subject, etc. Does it have any grammatical function the word 'tickets' besides being a noun?

Thank you for your words, but I'm still learning from any books, from these posts, and of course from my students.

Learning

[5jj]

'Tickets' is the direct object of the verb 'buy'.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=learning54;834782]

How many tickets is Caroline going to buy for the concert?



NOT A TEACHER


(1) As a moderator told you, it is the direct object.

(2) Ordinary speakers such as I find it helpful to identify the role of words by

putting questions into their "regular" order. That might be a good thing for your

students to remember.

(a) Caroline is going to buy how many tickets to the concert?

(b) How much ice cream did you eat last night? = You did eat how much ice cream

last night?

[Soup]

Hi,
Sorry I may have expressed myself really badly. I meant if, 'How many' is the question word, 'is' is an auxiliary verb, 'Caroline' is the subject, etc. Does it have any grammatical function the word 'tickets' besides being a noun?

Thank you for your words, but I'm still learning from [m]any books, from these posts, and of course from my students.

Learning

No worries. Here's some help with the wording:

Q: Which sentence element / element of the sentence is 'tickets' in following question?
A: Object.

Q: Which part of speech is 'tickets' in the following question?
A: Noun.

[Ilki]

Which What part of speech is ...?

"tickets" is the head of the following Noun Phrase (NP): "how many tickets". The NP functions as the object of "buy".

"be" is not a helping verb in the sentence; "be going to" (almost) is.

[5jj]

[STRIKE]"be" is not a helping verb in the sentence; "be going to" (almost) is.

I think that 'be' is a helping/auxiliary verb. It is used in the construction of the progressive form of GO. That progressive form is often considered an auxilary verb in it own right - BE+going to.

[learning54]

[QUOTE=TheParser;834812]

How many tickets is Caroline going to buy for the concert?



NOT A TEACHER


(1) As a moderator told you, it is the direct object.

(2) Ordinary speakers such as I find it helpful to identify the role of words by

putting questions into their "regular" order. That might be a good thing for your

students to remember.


(a) Caroline is going to buy how many tickets to the concert?

(b) How much ice cream did you eat last night? = You did eat how much ice cream

last night?

Hi TheParser,
Thank you for your reply and help too. I have a question though, is the preposition after tickets 'to' or for'?
Learning

[learning54]

Hi 5jj,
Thank you so much for your reply. It's crystal clear now.

Hi Soup,
Thank you so much for your detailed explanation and correction too. (m)any.

Hi llki,
Thank you so much for your reply too. But I think 'is' is an auxiliary verb along with 'going to'.