SUBSTANTIVIZED ADJECTIVES

Adjectives can often become substantivized (become nouns). In such cases they are either wholly (fully), or partially substantivized.

I. Wholly substantivized adjectives(converted into nouns) acquire allthe features of nouns: number, case, articles. They denote:

1) Class nouns:a relative, a native, a savage, a criminal, a white, а black,
a romantic, a cynic, a hopeful, a liberal, a conservative, a radical, a weekly,
a daily, a monthly, a classic, a comic, etc.

anative — natives — thenatives' huts

a relative — relatives — the relative's visit

I'm a romantic bynature.

"Swan Lake" has become auniversal classic,thought itsperformance in 1877was a flop.

Atschool we read mostly "Enjoyable classics".

Almost a hundred hopefulsstood in a queue outside the theatre.

You're an incurable romantic,that's what you are.

2) Names of nationalitiesnot ending in– ch, - sh:

a Russian, an American, a German, an Italian, a Greek.

a Greek — Greeks — the Greek's cooking

a Swiss – two Swiss

Here also belong names of languages:English, Russian, German, etc.

Russian is a much more difficult language than English.

There are so many Englishesin the world.

But:the English language, the Russian language

3) Names of colours

Black suits you best.

I like bottle green.

The girl was dressed in red.

When used in a general sense they are treated as uncountables (no plural, no “a”), when denoting shades of colours they are treated as countables and may be used with the definite article and in the plural.

The picture was in greensand bluesand the most glorious of yellows.

Her hair was a glossy black. The greenof the leaves looked fresh.

The sky was a pale blue;the sea was a steel grey.

II. Partially substantivized adjectivesand Participles IItake only onefeature of the noun, mostly the definite article. They denote:

1) All the persons possessing some common quality or feature of a group,but not as separate individuals.

the old, the young, the dead, the dumb, the rich, the poor, the civilized, the cultured, the privileged, the chosen, the wealthy , the homeless, the needy, the desperate, the hungry, the wounded, the unemployed, etc.

Robin Hood took the money from the richand gave it to the needy.

The cheerful live longest in years.

The strongest survive.

He honoured the wise, the witty,and the wealthy.

If you want to denote an individual, use the nouns man, woman, person or people: an old man, deaf and dumb people, a wealthy person, etc.

Note:two partially substantivized adjectives connected by «and» generally have no article.

Old and young came to the celebration.

But articles can not be omitted in titles of books, films, etc.

Last year I saw a few serials: "The Richand the Famous", "The Boldand the Beautiful", "The Cool", "The Charmed".

I have in my library such books as "The Insultedand Humiliated", "The Possessed" by F. Dostoevsky, "The Miserable"by V.Hugo, "The Red and the Black"by Stendhal.

2) Names of nationsending in -sh, -ch which require the definite
article to denote the whole nation: the French, the Irish, the Spanish etc.

The English are proud of their police.

The Dutch are famous for their tulips.

If separate members of the nation are meant, the nouns man and woman or people are used:

an Englishman, a Frenchwoman, English people.

3) Abstract notions:the beautiful, the unbelievable, the mystic, the mysterious, the supernatural, the impossible, the cool, the cold, the dark, the
good, the bad, the immediate, the unknown, etc.

She dreamed of the impossible.We got lost in the dark.The unexpected is always frightening.

If only the impossiblebecame the possible.

Hemingway wrote: "I can tell the badfrom the good."

4) Adjectives are substantivized in the following prepositional set-
phrases: in the negative (positive, affirmative), to the quick, in the open, on
the whole, in the main, in short, in general, to get the better of something, a
change for the better (for the worse), for the best of, to do one's best, not in the
least, all of a sudden, out of the blue, to leave for good, for one's good, to be in
the dark, to give smb a high, to do smth for the good of..., to the full, etc.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
The sooner the better.	\|	REFERENCES

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.