0
Mitsuo23 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
the + adj to mean adj people
Hi,
When I look up "the" Longman says,
"used before an adjective to make it into a plural noun when you are referring to all the people that the adjective describes"
e.g.) She devoted her life to helping the poor.
while Cambridge says,
"used before some adjectives to turn the adjectives into nouns which refer to people or things in general that can be described by the adjective"
e.g.) She lives in a special home for the elderly.
All the people and people in general are totally different to me. Which should I think is correct? Helping all the poor people seems impossible to me thought.
Thank you,
M
When I look up "the" Longman says,
"used before an adjective to make it into a plural noun when you are referring to all the people that the adjective describes"
e.g.) She devoted her life to helping the poor.
while Cambridge says,
"used before some adjectives to turn the adjectives into nouns which refer to people or things in general that can be described by the adjective"
e.g.) She lives in a special home for the elderly.
All the people and people in general are totally different to me. Which should I think is correct? Helping all the poor people seems impossible to me thought.
Thank you,
M
Top answer
mitsuwao23 All the people and people in general are totally different to me. Not to me. mitsuwao23 Helping all the poor people seems impossible to me thought.
- mitsuwao23 All the people and people in general are totally different to me.
- Not to me.
- mitsuwao23 Helping all the poor people seems impossible to me thought.
- Do not confuse grammar with reality.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
8 Answers
0
mitsuwao23All the people and people in general are totally different to me.Not to me.
mitsuwao23Helping all the poor people seems impossible to me thought.Do not confuse grammar with reality.
00
Mister MicawberDo not confuse grammar with reality.
But English is very strict about numbers. Let me put my question this way.
I think there's a difference between the sentences below:
A. She often recalls boyfriends she had in college.
(meaning, some boyfriends she had)
b) She often recalls the boyfriend
00
mitsuwao23Would you tell me which "the poor" means?This means just what the two definitions given do:
used before an adjective to make it into a plural noun when you are referring to all the people that the adjective describes = any of such people that are appropriate to the context.
used before some adjectives to turn the adjectiv
00
Mister MicawberDo not confuse grammar with reality.And now your words made sense to me.
Thank you!
M
00
Some people = some
anyone = any
the poorfolks = the poor
the smartestone = the smartest
the elderlypopulation = the elderly
Charles-James Bailey explains this phenomenonon with virtual constructs. In this case, virtual nouns, which are removed for various reasons like conciseness.
any
the poor
the smartest
the elderly
Charles-James Bailey explains this phenomenonon with virtual constructs. In this case, virtual nouns, which are removed for various reasons like conciseness.
00
Thank you for the reply. Would you tell me where I can read his explanation? I mean, the name of the site or the book. His name is not familiar to me.
M
M
00
He used to have a site, www.orlapubs.com/AL and this site is defunct now. You can access it via archive.org. He doesn't have any book on grammar, except for short articles and tidbits here and there in his books on English linguistics.
00
Related Questions