In the phrase, “do you want to have sex?”, what part of speech is “sex”? Why does one “have” sex rather than “do” sex?
Re: In the phrase, “do you want to have sex?”, what part of speech is “sex”?
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- The fun part.
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- The fun part.
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It’s a noun.
Of course, that’s what the dictionary said too. But somehow it just doesn’t seem right. I seems verb-like, in some way.
It’s an abbreviation of ‘sexual intercourse’, so is derived from the adjective but functions as a noun.
It’s normally a noun with a variety of related meanings, which may be what is throwing you. It’s used as a verb in two meanings, one technical (to determine the sex of, as in “to sex the newborn offspring of an animal”) and one obsolescent and somewhat euphemistic (to have sexual relations with). It’s sometimes used as a noun-used-as-adjective (like wheat in “wheat farmer”) in phrases like “sex crime” and “sex drive.”
“Do you want to have sex?”
“Do you want to have fun?”
“Do you want to have money?”
“Do you want to have wine?”
There’s no doubt to me – “sex”, “fun”, “money” and “wine” are all nouns in those sentences.
And the answer to all the questions is yes.
Giles, tell me more about your proposition…
“to have sex” is short for “to have sex with”. Unfortunately, I can’t draw a sentence diagram in text 
Which proposition? I had so many there 
“When come, bring pie.”
I know, I know. I’ll go have coffe now.
A compound infinitive, you mean? Where the prase “have sex” is synonimous with the single word “copulate”?
As in, the structure is not:
[you] [(Do) want] [to have] [sex]
but
[you][(Do) want] [to] [have sex]
Pie is never free.
If you mean have…“sex in the abstract,” as in “do you want a good sex life,” then sex is a noun; as in “do you want to have money,” or, “do you want to have peace.”
If you mean the invitation to doing something carnal, then “have sex” is an idiom. One can then argue whether you consider the idiom as a unit, which would make ‘have sex’ a phrasal (or compound) verb, or, whether one still parses each word’s part of speech within the idiom, in which case, ‘sex’ would still be a noun.
‘have sex’ = idiom
Peace.
TANSTAAFP. 
Perhaps the same could be said for sex? :eek:
‘sex’ is a noun, but ‘to have sex’ is a verb.
Strictly speaking, ‘to have sex’ is a prepostional phrase; ‘to’ is the preposition, and ‘sex’ is the object of the prepostion.
No, dammit! “To have sex” is an infinitive phrase. Sex is a noun which is the direct object of the infinitive “to have” – just as “to have tea and crumpets” has the phrase “tea and crumpets” as the direct object of the same infinitive. The “to” in an infinitive does not have, AFAIK, anything to do with the preposition “to” – and “have sex” is not a noun that could be the object of a preposition, anyway.
If you say so. I will be sure to rap the knuckles of my 8th grade English teacher.
So the sentence, “We checked into the No-Tel Motel to have sex.” contains no prepositional phrase?
Incorrect; the prepositional phrase is “into the No-Tel Motel”. If I’m not mistaken, “to have sex” is not considered part of the prepositional phrase. But I could be. Mistaken, that is.