Directions: Choose the correct part of speech for the word in bold letters.

This is about the best we can hope for.

'About' modifies 'best' (an adjective functioning as a noun phrase) as an adverb of degree. It means 'approximately' or 'around'. Adverbs modify adjectives, and here 'about' tells us to what degree something is 'the best' - roughly or approximately. It cannot be a preposition (no object follows), verb (no action), or noun.