Parts of Speech – Classification of ‘Plus’, ‘Times’, and ‘Minus’

parts-of-speech

In mathematics one will often say "This plus that" or "This times that". This means "This added too that" and "This multiplied by that".

Multiply, Add, Subtract, Divide – All are verbs. But what part of speech is "times" or "plus". It's wrong to say "times this by that" or "plus this with that". So they do not seem to be verbs, but they imply an action.

Best Answer

M-W defines plus (definition 3, used in addition) as a preposition.

This would make sense if you think of "Three plus four" as "Three added to four."

Alternatively, you could hedge your bets and call the operator a conjunction, which would make sense if you think of "Three plus four" as "Three and four."