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I studied that when we use 'the' before an adjective, we form a plural noun. For example, when I say 'The rich should help the poor' , I mean 'Rich people should help poor people. I s this a rule? Does this apply to all adjectives or just a number of adjectives?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Omar AhmedI s this a rule?

Yes.

Omar AhmedDoes this apply to all adjectives or just a number of adjectives?

It is not safe to say that something is always or never possible in English. Pay attention to how people use this structure and you'll learn to use 'the' with the right adjectives. By the way, the noun is not always plural. It is nearly always plural when people are referred to, but in other cases we get a singular noun:

The impossible interests him. (= Impossible things interest him.)

In some cases the structure may be either singular or plural: The deceased was/were buried.

CB

BillJ · Answer

Omar AhmedI studied that when we use 'the' before an adjective, we form a plural noun. For example, when I say 'The rich should help the poor' , I mean 'Rich people should help poor people.

Essentially, yes.

In "The rich should help the poor", both "rich" and "poor" are adjectives not nouns, but they belong to a special type of construction called a 'fused modifier-head', where they function simultaneously as modifier and head to form the noun phrases "the rich" and "the poor".

"The rich" and "the poor" are understood as "rich people" and "poor people".

Omar AhmedI s this a rule? Does this apply to all adjectives or just a number of adjectives?

Not all adjectives, but generally those that can be paraphrased by means of "those" + relative clause, as in "those who are rich / very poor", where they denote categories of human being.

Similarly with nationality adjectives such as, for example, "the French and "the Dutch", which denote the inhabitants of France and Holland.

And there's a subtype that includes adjectives based on past participle forms, such as "the disadvantaged", "the intellectually gifted", "the unemployed" and so on.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Omar AhmedDoes this apply to all adjectives

It applies to adjectives that describe a class of people, not all adjectives.

Today we honor the dead.
Please tell the uninvited to go away. They are not welcome.
The insane are confined to these wards.
The humble will get the highest rewards, and the proud will be humbled.

Some adjectives are also used as nouns, but that is not a general rule.

Please come in out of the cold. (Cold, but not hot!)
The thought came to me out of the blue. (Blue, but not white or green!)

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