What part of speech is idle in this sentence? "The kids are left idle with nothing to do."
What are your options?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idle
To determine the part of speech of the word "idle" in the sentence "The kids are left idle with nothing to do," we first need to identify its grammatical function.
In this sentence, "idle" is used as an adjective that describes the state of the kids. Adjectives modify or describe nouns or pronouns. Here, "idle" describes the noun "kids."
To confirm this, you can follow these steps:
1. Identify the word in question: In this case, it is "idle."
2. Examine the function of the word: Is it describing or modifying a noun or pronoun? In this sentence, "idle" describes the noun "kids." It tells us the state they are in, meaning they have nothing to do.
3. Determine the part of speech: Since "idle" is functioning as an adjective by modifying the noun "kids," we can classify it as an adjective in this sentence.
So, in this sentence, "idle" is an adjective.