Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow: The loss in…
2024
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow:
The loss in earnings that farmers see due to extreme weather events or erratic seasonality is, by now, accepted as the most widely felt economic impact of climate change. Farmers were the first people to feel the impacts of climate change, which ultimately affects the country’s overall agricultural output and adds to food inflation. High food prices, in turn, could result in people slashing down consumption, which adversely impacts nutritional security.
A significant number of farming households produce food for their own consumption. These households have given birth to an old saying: those who eat their own food are the healthiest. In countries like India, where malnutrition is high and food insecurity is a nagging constant, such households have used the home production system to remain out of this crisis. As studies point out, these households are also protected from market fluctuations, thus ensuring that they can afford healthy food. Obviously, they are not impacted by food inflation either.
But there are serious conversations taking place over how climate change-induced extreme weather events would impact such households. We need to understand the link between nutrition intake and household food production, and whether weather fluctuations would have any impact on this. Researchers have analysed village level data from households with their own food production and consumption, and co-related this with the local weather conditions to infer whether there was a correlation. The paper establishes that people growing their own food consume more, thus adding to nutrition levels and attaining overall food security. There was also reduction in child stunting and underweight conditions as well as women achieving a normal body mass index. These trends are more pronounced in remote villages.
Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words.
A significant number of farming households produce food for their own consumption.
- A.
adjective, pronoun
- B.
adverb, pronoun
- C.
noun, adjective
- D.
noun, pronoun
Attempted by 9 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: In English grammar, a word’s part of speech is determined by the grammatical function it performs within its specific phrase, not by its form alone. An adjective directly modifies a following noun, describing its quality or attribute, while a word such as "own" placed immediately after a possessive determiner (my/your/his/her/its/our/their) to add emphasis to the possession is classified, by standard school-grammar convention, as an emphasizing pronoun rather than a descriptive adjective, since it reinforces the possessive rather than independently describing the noun that follows.
Application:
In the phrase "A significant number of farming households," the word "significant" is placed directly before the noun "number" and describes its quality (how large the number is) — this noun-modifying, quality-describing role is the defining function of an adjective.
In the phrase "for their own consumption," the word "own" follows the possessive determiner "their" and adds emphasis to the possession already indicated by "their," rather than independently describing "consumption" — this emphasis-adding, possessive-reinforcing role is the defining function of an emphasizing pronoun in this construction.
Combining both classifications gives "significant" = adjective and "own" = pronoun, which matches the pairing adjective, pronoun.
Cross-check (ruling out the other pairings):
adverb, pronoun is ruled out because "significant" modifies the noun "number" directly, describing its quality; an adverb would instead modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb, which is not the role played here.
noun, adjective is ruled out because "significant" is not the head of any noun phrase — it only modifies "number" — and "own" adds emphasis to the possessive "their" rather than independently describing "consumption" the way a plain descriptive adjective would.
noun, pronoun is ruled out because "significant" is not itself the head of a noun phrase; it modifies "number," which is the actual head noun of the subject.
Result: the underlined words "significant" and "own" are an adjective and an (emphasizing) pronoun respectively, so the pairing adjective, pronoun is correct.