Stop playing: Identify the Part of Speech of the underlined word.

Correct answer: Noun.

"playing" is a gerund (a verbal noun).

Why: It functions as the direct object of the verb "stop" — the action being stopped is playing, so the -ing form is acting as a noun.

• Gerund definition: a verb form ending in -ing used as a noun.

• Not a participle: Participles act like adjectives (for example, in "the playing child" the -ing form describes the child).

• Not a conjunction: Conjunctions connect words or clauses (for example: and, but, or).

• Not an interjection: Interjections are sudden exclamations (for example: oh!, wow!).