A grammar/parts of speech question

Crossed posts, growstuff!

My apologies everyone. My brain is not working tonight. Difficult is an adjective. I was half focusing on this and half on something else. That'll larn me! *Slinking away in shame

According to one dicionary (Chambers) the word difficult when used as an adjective has at least eight meanings and another eight when used as a noun.

I expect the OED has more.

It slearly is possible therefore to use the same word in different ways.

I'm struggling to think of how it can be used as a noun - wouldn't that be 'difficulty'?

Isn't 'difficult' in 'You are being difficult' being used as an adverb? The behaviour described in the verb 'being' is what is described. Whether that behaviour is physical or mental, it is action and therefore a verb.

Yes, sorry, of course 'are' is part of the verb phrase.

Doodledog

I'm struggling to think of how it can be used as a noun - wouldn't that be 'difficulty'?

It can be a noun as in a class of people: The poor, the difficult, the outcast.

Also that which is difficult. He has an insatiable appetite for the difficult and the novel.

It's also a rock climbing term for a climb designated difficult: A Difficult on a small gritstone outcrop in Yorkshire may be much more demanding..than a Very Difficult in North Wales.

All examples from OED.

Oh yes, of course you are right.

I know it's far from obvious from this thread, but I used to be rather good at grammar ?. I think I need a refresher, don't I?

I think the penny is dropping, though. Although I thought that in both of my examples the word was being used as an adjective, the 'you are difficult' one sounded to me more like 'a class of person', which is why I thought it was different. But unless it takes an article in the example, it is still an adjective.

Phew!

Thanks for your patience, everyone. It's much appreciated.

I love thrashing out word classes. Nothing like a good sentence parse! So nerdy.

GagaJo

I love thrashing out word classes. Nothing like a good sentence parse! So nerdy.

My favourite doorstop is my copy of A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Randolph Quirk et al - all 1779 pages of it. Definitely nerdy!

GagaJo

Isn't 'difficult' in 'You are being difficult' being used as an adverb? The behaviour described in the verb 'being' is what is described. Whether that behaviour is physical or mental, it is action and therefore a verb.

I think if it is being used as an adverb it would be something like You are being difficultly" ie, with difficulty, that is, "Your being is difficult for you"

I think the OP wants is that "You are acting as though you are difficult".

One issue seems to be that the OP has forgotten that ‘to be’, although a verb, doesn’t operate grammatically the same as other verbs. Instead of ‘subject, verb, object’ (nominative, verb, accusative) anything that comes after any form of the verb ‘to be’ is a complement, takes the same case as the subject, and in terms of meaning, could be joined to the subject without a verb at all. ‘The woman is (being) difficult’ means the same as ‘the difficult woman’.

Doodledog

Oh yes, of course you are right.

I know it's far from obvious from this thread, but I used to be rather good at grammar ?. I think I need a refresher, don't I?

I think the penny is dropping, though. Although I thought that in both of my examples the word was being used as an adjective, the 'you are difficult' one sounded to me more like 'a class of person', which is why I thought it was different. But unless it takes an article in the example, it is still an adjective.

Phew!

Thanks for your patience, everyone. It's much appreciated.

No expert but I think "difficult" is always an adjective even when it's being used as a noun, my reasoning is that the noun it is describing has been omitted but is still implied. eg when it's being used to describe a group of people , the noun "people" is left out, in the example given earlier from the OED used in climbing, the difficult describes climbs, which has been left out but is implied. So being pedantic, which is what this post is about, in certain cases I would describe "difficult" as an adjective being used as a noun but in the cases given by the OP "difficult" is an adjective.

‘The woman is (being) difficult’ means the same as ‘the difficult woman’.

It really doesn't.

Taps have the words "cold" or "hot" on them. That is because the water that comes out of them is likely to be cold (adjective) or hot (adjective). It isn't because "cold" or "hot" are here being used as nouns - in that case "hot" would be "heat". The same with climbs being labelled as "difficult" etc - they are difficult (adjective) climbs, Leaving out the noun "climb" doesn't turn "difficult" into a noun in its place, you are supposed to mentally insert it yourself.

That current mostrosity "My bad!" is similar. You mentally register it as "My bad action!" A bad is NOT a noun, unless you are a toddler just starting to learn language and not yet fluent.

I've always thought 'my bad' was basically toddler-speak, rather than having any real context.

"The difficult" is a nominalized adjective, so yes it is a noun. Verbs can also be used as nouns and are known as gerunds.

www.myenglishpages.com/english/grammar-lesson-adjectival-nouns.php

In German, adjectives used in this way start with a capital letter, which shows they are nouns.

There is a lot of toddler-speak around at the moment.

FarNorth

^‘The woman is (being) difficult’ means the same as ‘the difficult woman’.^

It really doesn't.

I agree. The use of the present continuous form of the verb "to be" shows that the woman is being difficult at this time.

"The difficult woman" would imply that the woman is always difficult.

Elegran

There is a lot of toddler-speak around at the moment.

That's a very generous description of some of it.

geekesse

One issue seems to be that the OP has forgotten that ‘to be’, although a verb, doesn’t operate grammatically the same as other verbs. Instead of ‘subject, verb, object’ (nominative, verb, accusative) anything that comes after any form of the verb ‘to be’ is a complement, takes the same case as the subject, and in terms of meaning, could be joined to the subject without a verb at all. ‘The woman is (being) difficult’ means the same as ‘the difficult woman’.

Quite! It's the same with the verb "to become".

Elegran

GagaJo

Isn't 'difficult' in 'You are being difficult' being used as an adverb? The behaviour described in the verb 'being' is what is described. Whether that behaviour is physical or mental, it is action and therefore a verb.

I think if it is being used as an adverb it would be something like You are being difficultly" ie, with difficulty, that is, "Your being is difficult for you"

I think the OP wants is that "You are acting as though you are difficult".

owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/how_to_use_adjectives_and_adverbs/adjective_or_adverb.html

#2 covers the use of adjectives with the verb "to be".

I enjoyed reading that! It was difficult to resolve but I’m glad any difficulty has been smoothed out. Grammar can be difficult to understand.
Damn now I need to look up the etymology of difficult/difficile etc

growstuff So you can "attempt the difficult", where the adjective is used as a noun to generalise something for its difficulty.

The OP's example, 'You are being difficult.' is still a description (adjective) of the state of the person addressed, however, not of them being a general personification of difficulty.

I shall read that, but I need a cup of of coffee first.