Parts of Speech – What Part of Speech Is ‘Running’ in This Example?

Let's have a look and examples.

1. The Titanic went down (went is a verb , down is a adverb)
2. Now let's reverse the sentence.....
3. Down went the Titanic (Down is still an adverb)

Indifferent is not the correct word to describe the way native English speakers regard parts of speech; it's more like flexible:

In the unambiguous expression:

the children enjoyed the fun and games

Fun is a noun.

In the unambiguous expression:

the children enjoyed the fun games

Fun is an adjective.

In the ambiguous expression:

it's fun

The larger context will determine the part of speech:

Fun is renaming it as a predicate noun.

or

Fun is describing it as a predicate adjective.

As long as people can perceive, use and interpret parts of speech properly, it is not so important to label them. We teach our children to label parts of speech so that they can learn to speak, read and write properly. As instructors, the labels remain supremely relevant to us, but once our students can speak, read and write, the labels quickly become less relevant to them. Those who never discuss parts of speech, tend to forget the significance of the labels, because they don't need the labels to communicate.