Parts of speech

[Anonymous]

In my english class a student gave the teacher the following question.

We cancelled tomorrow dinner with Joan.

Is tomorrow an adjective or adverb? explain why

Should tomorrow dinner be written as tomorrow's dinner?

My email address is bellb@lacitycollege.edu.

I need this information for tomorrow.

 

[Tdol]

You could say 'We cancelled dinner tomorrow with Joan' or 'tomorrow's dinner'. In the latter, it's a noun, as seen by the fact that it has a possessive form. In the former, it is an adverb of time.;-)

 

[solace]

I think we should use " We cancelled tomorrow dinner with Joan" because tomorrow can be a noun and plays a role of an adjective modifying the word "dinner"
If tomorrow is an adverb of time, maybe the sentence will be changed to " We will cancell the dinner with Joan tomorrow"
How about your idea?

 

[Tdol]

The position of 'with Joan' is felxible, so moving 'tomorrow' is fine. However, I don't see that 'tomorrow' coule realistically be used as an adjectival noun here, because it is a one-off rather than something recognisable like 'dinner party'. ;-)

 

[solace]

To Tdol
Thanks for your answer. But I don 't understand why tomorrow couldn't be used as an adjectival noun and what is a one-off. Will you please make it clearly?
I often hear that phrase " a tomorrow morning", is the word tomorrow a kind of adjective? If not, what kind of it?

 

[Tdol]

'Tomorrow morning' works be cause it is a phrase that has regular meaning. The 'dinner' example does not. To use a noun this way, it has to have a wider meaning that is readily understood. By 'one-off', I meant that it referred to a single occasion. Also, if we say 'I'll see you tomorrow morning', then it is an adverbial. ;-)