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Cambridge Dictionary always disappoints me. In the entry of "worth", it is said that it is an "adjective":

[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-simplified/worth][1]

e.g. Our house is worth £200,000.

In fact, Longman is correct in regarding it as a preposition:

[https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/worth][1]

e.g. The company’s assets are worth $70 a share.

Am I right?

Louis Liu
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  • See https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/worth Good Luck. – Kris Jun 04 '18 at 05:48
  • See also: [ell.se] which is especially helpful to non-native speakers of the English language. – Kris Jun 04 '18 at 05:48
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    @Kris: How is this an "English language learners" question? It seems to be a question about linguistics, not about how to use the word "worth". – herisson Jun 04 '18 at 05:51
  • @sumelic I don't think the OP meant the linguistic aspect at all, considering that the OP is a non-native speaker. Think again, the idea here is to be helpful to the OP, not display our scholarship. – Kris Jun 04 '18 at 06:01
  • @Kris: I assumed Louis wanted a linguistic answer because I don't understand how the part of speech of a word is relevant to learning how to use it. Does calling "worth" a preposition or an adjective tell a learner anything useful? I don't see how it would, so it's hard for me to figure out what a learner-oriented answer to this question would look like... – herisson Jun 04 '18 at 06:09
  • "Worth" is an adjective in your example. It's one of four adjectives that are transitive (the others are "due, like and unlike". Note that it can also be a noun in, e.g. "You should make an estimate of his net worth", and in measure genitive constructions, e.g. "one dollar's worth of chocolates". It is never a preposition. – BillJ Jun 04 '18 at 06:58
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    See also What part of speech is 'worth' (closed as a duplicate but containing valuable analyses). John Lawler gives a balanced overview: '.. the categorial status of worth is a matter of some dispute. It has variously been claimed to be a preposition and an adjective (cf Maling 1983 and McCawley 1985).... I will have nothing to say about the categorial status of worth here, since the matter is irrelevant to its meaning ... no matter what category worth may belong to, it is an atypical example of the category.' – Edwin Ashworth Jun 04 '18 at 07:19
  • Look for the evidence: In the OP's example it is predicative and since this is the ascriptive use of "be", it can only be an adjective. It ascribes the property of being worth $20,000 to the predicand "our house" How difficult is that? – BillJ Jun 04 '18 at 07:38
  • @Kris, I am interested in the linguistic part. Why do you assume a non-native learner is not concerned about the part of speech of a word? – Louis Liu Jun 07 '18 at 03:43
  • @BillJ. Your answer is helpful. – Louis Liu Jun 07 '18 at 03:44
  • Related. – tchrist Dec 26 '22 at 16:34

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