Boys and girls both enjoy going to the movies.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Katherine99

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
United States
What role is both playing in the above sentence? What part of speech is it and what is itmodifying? Can you also diagram thesentence?

Thank You

 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
It postmodifies boys and girls.
 

Katherine99

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
United States
OK, but both can be used as an adjective, pronoun, or conjunction, how is it being used here? From the dictionary, it states that both as an adjective is used to indicate that two things or people are being referred to rather than just one. Then as a conjunction, both is used before two words or phrases connected with and to stress that each is included. I see that in this sentence both comes after the two words conneted by and. If it is a conjunction, would it be diagramm like the file attached but if it's an adjective, how would it be diagrammed?

Both1.jpg
 

philo2009

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
To my mind 'both' is a pronoun in apposition to 'boys and girls'.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top