Blog about English
Adjectives used as nouns, fixed expressions and other special constructions.
Some adjectives can function as nouns when referring to groups of people.
Examples include the rich, the poor, the elderly and the unemployed.
Some nationality adjectives refer collectively to the people of a country.
Examples include the French, the Chinese and the Dutch.
Adjectives often follow indefinite pronouns.
Examples include something strange, nothing important and anyone available.
Some adjectives follow the noun they modify.
This commonly occurs after indefinite pronouns and in certain fixed or formal expressions such as attorney general and court martial.
Many adjective combinations occur as fixed expressions or idioms.
Examples include short and sweet, safe and sound, loud and clear and black and white.
Headlines and titles often omit words while retaining adjectives for impact.
This style is common in newspapers, advertising and online media.
Some adjectives represent abstract qualities rather than describing individual nouns.
Examples include the unknown, the impossible and the inevitable.
The same adjective may function differently depending on context.
An adjective may modify a noun, function predicatively or behave like a noun in special constructions.
Formal and literary English sometimes places adjectives after nouns or uses unusual adjective patterns.
These constructions are stylistic and less common in everyday conversation.
Certain adjective constructions survive mainly in legal, religious or historical language.
Understanding these forms improves comprehension of formal texts.
English contains a number of idiomatic adjective constructions that do not follow ordinary patterns.
These expressions are best learned individually through exposure.
Recognize when adjectives function differently from their usual descriptive role.
Common mistakes include treating adjective-noun constructions literally, misunderstanding postpositive adjectives and misusing adjectives functioning as nouns.