In the sentence The cat slept on the warm mat, which word is a noun and which is a verb?

• A. The word list: cat is a noun; slept is a noun.
• B. cat is a verb; slept is a verb.
• C. cat is an adjective; slept is a noun.
• D. The word cat is a noun and slept is a verb.

Answer: (D)

Think about what each word is doing: nouns name a thing, while verbs show an action. In The cat slept on the warm mat, cat names the animal, so it's a noun. Slept tells what the cat did, so it's a verb. Therefore, the description that cat is a noun and slept is a verb fits. The other statements mix up the roles (cat isn’t a verb or an adjective here, and slept isn’t a noun in this sentence).