2007-03-27 18:45:52 · 9 answers · asked by KnowAll 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I am a journalist/writer so it's part of my job to know these things.
Evil can be either a noun or an adjective, however in the sentence "you are evil" it is almost certainly an adjective. You are describing the attributes of the person and the sentence is synonymous with saying 'you are an evil person'.
'You' is the noun (in this case a pronoun) and also the subject of the sentence. 'Are' is the verb.
Evil can also be a noun - an example is 'money is the root of all evil'.
There is a slight possibility that in the sentence 'you are evil', the word evil could be used as a noun. If rather than being synonymous with 'you are an evil person', you intend the sentence to mean 'you are all the evil in the world and all the evil in the world is you', then it's a noun.
But in that case you've structured the sentence really badly because the meaning is ambiguous. The adjectival meaning is the most obvious one.
2007-03-27 20:13:47 · answer #1 · answered by Dragonfly 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It could be either an adjective or a noun. If you mean to say that someone has evil qualities, then it is an adjective. If you mean to say that someone is evil itself as a thing, that they themselves are what evil is, then it is a noun.
2007-03-27 20:00:48 · answer #2 · answered by sword856 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The word "evil" is an adjective.
2007-03-27 18:49:23 · answer #3 · answered by Neil 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
it rather is an adverb. The be conscious down is describing the be conscious got here (that's a verb) making it an adverb. you additionally can decide which words are adverbs by determining which words are verbs then seeing if any words can describe it ( as an occasion, "what did the airplane do?" "it got here down" ). different adverbs even have the prefix -ly.
2017-01-05 07:45:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Evil is an adjective...It describes "You"
2007-03-27 23:10:37 · answer #5 · answered by LeeBee 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
noun--it's a quality or condition, a state of being, something like that
No, I'm wrong. I looked it up and it's an ADJECTIVE.
2007-03-27 18:49:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
its a noun!
it functions as a subjective complement because it is preceded by a linking verb and it refers back to your subject which is you...
but if we say 'you are an evil person.', evil there functions as an adjective.
gee?
2007-03-27 21:04:45 · answer #7 · answered by Celine 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you is the subject
are is the predicate (verb)
evil is the adjective
2007-03-27 18:50:07 · answer #8 · answered by huhyftcgbjhu 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it's a noun
2007-03-27 18:57:15 · answer #9 · answered by det 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋