Adjectives - Guide to Grammar and Writing Can Be Fun For Anyone

"My kids, [who are] delighted to go travelling, remain in the rear seats.", which operate as nouns. One method this happens is by eliding a noun from an adjective-noun noun phrase, whose residue therefore is a nominalization. In the sentence, "I check out two books to them; he chose the unfortunate book, but she preferred the happy", pleased is a nominalized adjective, short for "happy one" or "delighted book".

In such cases, the adjective may work as a mass noun (as in the preceding example). In English, it may also function as a plural count noun signifying a collective group, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who are meek" or "all who are meek".

In some languages, the words that serve the semantic function of adjectives are classified together with some other class, such as nouns or verbs. In the expression "a Ford automobile", "Ford" is certainly a noun however its function is adjectival: to customize "vehicle". In some languages adjectives can work as nouns: for instance, the Spanish phrase "" implies "a red [one].

Such an analysis is possible for the grammar of Standard Chinese, for instance. Various languages do not utilize adjectives in exactly the same situations. For Key Reference , where English uses "to be starving" (starving being an adjective), Dutch, French, and Spanish usage "", "", and "" respectively (actually "to have cravings", the words for "hunger" being nouns).

In languages that have adjectives as a word class, it is generally an open class; that is, it is relatively typical for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. Nevertheless, Bantu languages are popular for having only a small closed class of adjectives, and new adjectives are not quickly derived.