adverbs - What part of speech does “here” have in “I am here”?


What part of speech does here have in the following sentence?



I am here.



I say that in that sentence, here must be an adverb because:



  • It modifies the verb am by describing where I am.

  • Am is a “being” verb in this instance, not a “linking” verb.


My friend contends that here is a noun because the word here is, in this instance, defined as this place, which in Merriam-Webster is the definition for the noun here.




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