Identify the part of speech of the underlined word 'that' in the sentence: 'Look at that man over there.'
- (a)Adverb
- (b)Conjunction
- (c)Determiner
- (d)Article
Correct — C, Determiner. In 'that man', 'that' comes before the noun 'man' and points it out — a demonstrative determiner (this/that/these/those) specifying which man is meant. It is not an article, because the only articles are 'a', 'an' and 'the'.
- (a)Adverb — 'that' can be an adverb ('it isn't that big'), but here it modifies the noun 'man', not a verb or adjective, so it is a determiner.
- (b)Conjunction — 'that' is a conjunction when it introduces a clause ('I know that he came'); here it directly precedes a noun, so it is a determiner, not a conjunction.
- (d)Article — The only articles in English are 'a', 'an' and 'the'; 'that' is a demonstrative, so it is a determiner but never an article.
Determiners (articles a/an/the, demonstratives this/that/these/those, possessives my/your, quantifiers) sit before a noun to specify it; 'that + noun' is a demonstrative determiner.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
What part of speech is 'these' in 'These books are mine'?
- (a)Article
- (b)Determiner
- (c)Pronoun
- (d)Adverb
Answer(b) Determiner — 'these' is a demonstrative determiner specifying the noun 'books'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
What part of speech is 'that' in 'She said that she would come'?
- (a)Determiner
- (b)Article
- (c)Conjunction
- (d)Adverb
Answer(c) Conjunction — here 'that' introduces a noun clause, not a noun.