I worked hard with my mother in the fields. It was hard work, but I learned a lot about farming.

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In the passage, what does 'it' refers to?
What is the part of speech of 'a lot'? Does 'a lot' modify 'learned' or is 'a lot' the object of 'learned'?

Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help Forum. The word "It" refers to the "work in the fields." "A lot" modifies the verb "learned" in the sentence. Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, when?, where?, why? and to what extent?

Sra

I respectfully disagree.

The word "lot" is a noun and serves as the direct object in this sentence.

I = subject
learned = verb
a lot = direct object (plus its article, "a")

i wont speech englih becose for me is very important

To determine what 'it' refers to, we need to look for a noun or noun phrase in the preceding sentence that could logically be referred to by the pronoun. In this case, the only noun phrase before 'it' is "working hard with my mother in the fields," so we can conclude that 'it' refers to the act of working hard with the mother in the fields.

Regarding the second question, 'a lot' is a noun phrase that functions as an adverbial phrase modifying the verb 'learned'. It expresses the degree or extent to which the speaker learned. So in this case, 'a lot' does modify 'learned.' It does not serve as the object of 'learned.'