Wednesday, 30 June 2010

Adjectives without nouns

We cannot usually leave out a noun after an adjective.

  • Poor little boy.'(NOT poor little)


But there are some exceptions:

We sometimes leave out a noun when we are talking about a choice between two or three different kinds (of car, milk, cigarette, bread).

  • Have you got any bread?1 'Do you want white or brown? '

  • A pound of butter, please.' 'I've only got unsalted '


We can use superlative adjectives without nouns, if the meaning is clear.

  • I'm the tallest in my family.

  • 'Which one shall I get?' The cheapest'


We can use some adjectives with theto talk about people in a particular condition.

  • He s collecting money for the blind


Note that this structure has a plural 'general' meaning: the blind means 'all blind people', not 'the blind person' or 'certain blind people'.

The most common expressions of this kind are:

  • the dead

  • the sick

  • the blind

  • the deaf

  • the rich the poor

  • the unemployed

  • the young

  • the old

  • the handicapped

  • the mentally ill


(In informal speech, we usually say old people, young people etc instead of the old, the young.)

These expressions cannot be used with a possessive's.

  • the problems of the poor

  • poor people s problems (NOT the poor's problems)

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