The Russian language is rich not only in synonyms and sayings, but also in lexical and syntactic dilemmas, around which many questions always swarm. It would seem, why would someone know exactly and for sure what part of speech the phrase "unfortunately" is? Indeed, he would be left alone, if only the correct answer to this question did not affect the spelling. And since everyone who loves their native language wants to write competently, it is very necessary to understand this issue.
Possible options
To determine what part of speech the phrase "unfortunately" is, you first need to find out what part of speech it can even be. There are few options here. More precisely, there are only two of them.
Firstly, "unfortunately" can be a dative noun with the preposition "to". For example:
His actions were selfish and self-confident, and therefore led to the misfortune of his entire family
Secondly, this phrasemay be an introductory word. For example:
Unfortunately, we were unable to meet him, which we regretted in time when he left the country, promising never to return
In the first case, the word "unhappiness" retains all grammatical features, performs the function of the corresponding part of speech, and so on. In the second, on the contrary, nothing of the kind is assigned to the phrase.
How to tell?
It is not difficult to determine what part of speech the phrase "unfortunately" is. It is most convenient to determine by meaning. In the role of an introductory word, the phrase "unfortunately" expresses the author's assessment of what happened, it can be replaced by "unfortunately", "to my chagrin", "regretfully" and other introductory words with the appropriate emotional coloring.
Unfortunately, the weather ruined all our plans, and instead of leaving for a picnic in the country, we had to stay at home
The part of speech of the phrase "unfortunately" significantly changes its meaning. As a noun, this phrase denotes a direct consequence of an act, a real unpleasant event, but not the author's assessment.
For example:
My friends were not ready for misfortune, but still endured all the trials that fate presented them
In the second case, "unfortunately" can be replaced with "to a sad event", "tosad consequence", "to trouble". In addition, other suitable words can be added between the preposition and the noun. For example:
The businessman had no idea that his actions would lead to such a terrible, fatal, unexpected misfortune
Why is this needed?
The question of why to know what part of speech is the phrase "unfortunately" arises quite often. The answer is simple: to write correctly in Russian and punctuate without mistakes.
When "unfortunately" is a noun, no characters are required before or after it. For example:
If we could always prepare in advance for the misfortune that fate has in store for us, life would be much easier, but at the same time much more boring
And vice versa, when "unfortunately" acts as an introductory word, it must be separated by commas on both sides. By the way, you should do the same with all introductory words and sentences. For example:
Unfortunately, our colleagues had to cancel the meeting, but we still hope that they will change their mind about this issue and change their minds
Summing up
Actually, this "unfortunately" dilemma only seems complicated. As you can see, it can be easily resolved if you pay attention to the meaning of the phrase in the sentence and analyze each case separately. Over time, this will become a habit, and determine the part of speechit will become very easy, as if "on the machine".
