Pink is in, and in this sentence ‘in’ is an adjective. In assigning a word to a part of speech, for example adjective or preposition, you need to look at what the word’s function is, rather than its decontextualised meaning. To demonstrate this notion, note below how the ever so prolific word ‘like’ in diverse contexts has different functions:
I like chocolate. (verb)
I’d like two huge scoops of ice cream, please. (verb)
I can sing like a soprano. (preposition)
My test score was so low, and I’m like so confused. (adverb)
My cat is like so cute. (adverb)
The thug next door has finally moved abroad—I hope we never see the likes of him anymore! (noun)
I didn’t know what to buy my niece for her birthday, so I asked my sister about her likes and dislikes. (noun)
I’ll always put a like on a post that I find very interesting. (noun)
I woke up this morning and couldn’t see much outside because there was this cloud-like mist hovering close to the ground. (derivational suffix to create an adjective)
Now this is also the case with the word ‘in’. From its context, you can understand its function, hence its part of speech. It has quite a few, surprisingly. Let’s have a look at a selection:
My socks are in the drawer. (preposition indicating place)
I put the money in my purse. (preposition indicating movement/direction)
The traffic is horrendous in the morning. (preposition for a time expression)
It’s about to pour down—come in! (adverb)
Is there a curfew? When do we have to be in? (adverb)
Oh dear, the boss looks angry. Looks like we’re in for a really bad day. (part of an idiomatic expression)
Son, did you know your sister was stashing chocolate in her wardrobe? Were you in on it? (part of an idiomatic expression)
Do you believe in God? (preposition for a prepositional verb)
You need to check in to get the keys. (particle in a phrasal verb)
I can’t trust you; you are far too inconsistent. (prefix denoting ‘not’)
Therefore, this two-letter word can perform many functions; in addition to the ones listed above, it can also be an adjective. In fact, as anticipated in the image of this post, ‘in’ is an adjective, and it means trendy, fashionable, or popular. Basically, you can say it is the truncated or clipped form of ‘in fashion’. Consider the synonymous relationship of the following:
Pink is in.
Pink is trendy.
Pink is fashionable.
Pink is popular.
Pink is in fashion.
How can you be certain a word is an adjective or a preposition or any other part of speech? The position of the word, the other elements that surround it, and/or affixes can aid you. So, even if you are uncertain of the meaning of ‘in’ here, you can manage to understand that it’s an adjective from its position.†
So, what is an adjective? It is a word or a group of words (adjective phrase) that gives qualitative information about a noun phrase. It can answer a question such as ‘what’s it like?’ Adjectives can be found before and after the noun phrase they modify. When they are situated before, they form part of that noun phrase; when they are situated after, they follow a copula verb like ‘to be’ or ‘to seem’. A copula verb links its subject to a complement by defining an attribute of it, and this complement can be either an adjective phrase or noun phrase.‡
Shoes are so expensive.
Pink shoes look great.
My pink shoes became very old.
Pink seems pleasing.
Shoes are an item of clothing.
Those pink shoes could be soft ballerina slippers.
My pink shoes were a present from my sister.
Pink is a colour.
Not convinced yet? Let’s test our assumption that ‘in’ as in ‘pink is in’ is an adjective another way by using a replacement test. This consists of substituting the word with another word from the part of speech you believe it belongs to.§
Pink is in.
Pink is bright.
Sushi is in.
Sushi is delicious.
Thongs are in.
Thong are fantastic.
Wait. Oh dear, maybe ‘in’ is a noun. If it’s a noun we can put a determiner or an adjective in front of it, and if it’s countable, it should have a plural and singular form.
*Poker dots are the in.
Poker dots are the circles in a pattern.
*Those poker dots are big in.
Those poker dots are big circles.
(*error)
Additionally, when you encounter such a caveat, you need to exercise some judgment by considering the meaning. What other words could it be synonymous to? Consider these three sentences which have the same meaning:
Pink is in.
Pink is fashionable.
Pink is trendy.
What can you conclude? Inside the clause ‘pink is in’, ‘in’ is not a noun; it is an adjective.
As evidenced in the examples above with both ‘like’ and ‘in’, it is clear that to understand which part of speech a word is, you have to look at its function in a given context, not only the meaning of the word of itself. For instance, take a look again at ‘pink is in’. If you did not consider each word in its context to see its function, you would have thought ‘pink’ was an adjective and ‘in’ a preposition. The word in subject position is ‘pink’, albeit normally an adjective, and it precedes the verb: therefore, ‘pink’ is a noun (otherwise called noun phrase) in this sentence.
Lastly, let’s also test whether it is the remnant of the truncated idiom ‘in fashion’. The two words ‘in fashion’ together make a constituent in that they form a single unit.** You can check this by using the replacement test here too.
Pink is in. = Pink is fashionable. = Pink is trendy. = Pink is in fashion.
How about when something is no longer considered to be in? Well, it’s out! Take a look at some examples:
I can’t believe you still wear bell-bottom jeans—they went out ages ago.
Walking around with your boombox blaring is definitely out—iPhones with wireless headsets are in.
Most people read fashion magazine to get a gist of what’s in and what’s out.
Just so you know, thongs (aka flip-flops—not skimpy underwear) will never go out in Australia.
Would you like to more about ‘out’ or how any other little word can be use in a great number of ways?
Request a free 20-second takeaway. Please contact me. I will post one for you.
† A. Carnie, syntax a generative introduction, Blackwell Publishing, Victoria, Australia, 2002, p.30
‡ J. Sinclair, G. Fox, S. Bullon, R. Krishnamurthy, E, Manning, J. Todd, … D. Yuill eds., English Grammar Helping Learners with real English, HarperCollins Publishers, London, 1990, pp. 172–174
§ Carnie, p.51
¶ Carnie, p.51
**Carnie, p.51