adjective or adverb

[notmyname216]

Given the following sentence:

The baby was fast asleep.

Is "fast" a adverb and "asleep" a adverb?

Also given this sentence:

The baby went fast asleep.

Is "fast" a adjective and "asleep" a adverb?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by notmyname216

Given the following sentence:

The baby was fast asleep.

Is "fast" a adverb and "asleep" a adverb?

Also given this sentence:

The baby went fast asleep.

Is "fast" a adjective and "asleep" a adverb?

In that context, fast is synonymous with the adverbs soundly and completely, so it's an adverb. asleep describes the state of the the baby. It's a predicate adjective.

[notmyname216]

Thanks Casiopea.

Is "fast" a adjective and "asleep" also a adjective if the sentences are rewritten this way:

1. The baby was asleep fast.

2. The baby went asleep fast.

[Casiopea]

"be asleep" is a set pair. The first word "be" is a linking verb, and the second word "asleep" is an adjective. As for "go asleep/went asleep", it sounds odd to me, sorry. I'd use, "She went to sleep fast."

"fast" can be an adjective or an adverb. When "fast" modifies a noun, it functions as an adjective,

Adjective: She has a fast car. The car is fast. ('car', 'The car' are nouns)

When "fast" modifies a verb or an adjective, it functions as an adverb,

Adverb: She is fast asleep. She fell asleep fast. She went to sleep fast.

When in doubt, replace "fast" with an adverb, and if the sentence sounds OK, then "fast" is an adverb, like this,

She fell asleep fast/quickly. ("fast" is an adverb)
She is fast/completely asleep. ("fast" is an adverb)
She has a fast/quickly car. (ungrammatical) "fast" is not an adverb here.
She went to sleep fast/quickly. ("fast" is an adverb)

[notmyname216]

Is "fast" a manner adverb in both these sentences?

She fell asleep fast.
She fell fast asleep.

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by notmyname216

Is "fast" a manner adverb in both these sentences?

She fell asleep fast.
She fell fast asleep.

Yes, in the first you could replace it with 'quickly' and in the second with 'soundly'. The first describes the way she fell asleep, and the second describes the manner in which she slept.