Adjectives or nouns in a prepositional phrase

Question

"Everyone from far and near came." ( Considering this is a prepositional phrase, which figures of speech are 'far' and 'near' individually in this sentence: adjectives or nouns?)

Answer 1

Hello Nisha,

It is important not to confuse parts of speech with figures of speech. When you ask about, as you write " 'far' and 'near' individually" (my underline) you are clearly asking about parts of speech, not figures of speech. As parts of speech the two words are both normally adverbs or adjectives (near is also a preposition). The trouble (and no doubt the reason your teacher gave this assignment ...) is that in your quote the two words are not used the way adjectives, adverbs or prepositions are normally used. Instead, they are used more like nouns, even though no English dictionary will say they're nouns. So here is where the term figure of speech comes in: When you stop looking at the words individually and take the phrase as a whole - 'from far and near' - you are dealing with a figure of speech and that is why we instinctively accept that the normal rules governing adjectives and nouns don't apply here.

Answer 2

Hello Nisha,

'Far' and 'near' are each adjectives in this sentence because they describe the general distance(s) from which everybody came.