The unfortunate poor vs. the unfortunately poor

Question

A.  The unfortunate poor eats only one meal a day.B.  The unfortunately poor eats only one meal a day.1.  Which of the above is correct?2.  I think the adjective 'unfortunate' is possible because it describes the noun 'poor'.  I also think the adverb 'unfortunately' is possible because 'poor' is an adjective made into a noun.  I'm not sure about this, though.  Would you agree?Thank you in advance for your assistance.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousI'm not sure about this, though. Would you agree?

I would agree that you are not sure. Yes.

AnonymousA. The unfortunate poor eats only one meal a day.
B. The unfortunately poor eats only one meal a day.

1. Which of the above is correct?

Neither. the poor implies all poor people, so it is plural. The verb has to agree.
Also, poor, though usually an adjective, functions as a noun here. It is the subject of the sentence. So the adjective unfortunate is used.

The unfortunate poor eat only one meal a day.

To use the adverb with -ly, you'll need to make it apply to the whole sentence, thus:

Unfortunately, the poor eat only one meal a day.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimI would agree that you are not sure. Yes.

I knew it I wasn't sure.

I see I somewhat created confusion in placing "Would you agree?" in the wrong part of the paragraph.

CalifJimNeither. the poor implies all poor people, so it is plural. The verb has to agree.
Also, poor, though usually an adjective, functions as a noun here. It is the subject of the sentence. So the adjective unfortunate is used.

This makes sense to me now. Thank you so much for your explanation.

Just one last question, I read somewhere in this forum something which says "For the incorrigibly curious, he includes...", do you think it should have read "For the incorrigible curious..." since 'curious' functions as a noun here?

Anonymous · Answer

Just a couple of questions more below...

CalifJimthe poor implies all poor people, so it is plural

1. Do all adjectives when used as a noun are always plural and therefore takes a plural verb?
2. Isn't it possible to use an adjective made a noun as singular?
eg. The incorrigible curious is no less than the youngest of the siblings.

3. Is 'youngest' in the example above also an adjective made a noun? and is singular?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI see I somewhat created confusion in placing "Would you agree?" in the wrong part of the paragraph.

Yes. I made that joke to point it out! I'm glad you understood the joke!

AnonymousI read somewhere in this forum something which says "For the incorrigibly curious, he includes...", do you think it should have read "For the incorrigible curious..." since 'curious' functions as a noun here?

Ah, yes. Now we have to talk about something else, because it looks like there's a contradiction here.

unfortunately is not an adverb of degree. It doesn't tell us how poor the poor people are. It just says that they are poor, and they are unfortunate because they are poor.

incorrigibly is an adverb of degree. It tells us how curious the curious people are (to what degree they are curious). (incorrigible means 'can't be corrected'.) It tells us that these people are so curious that no one can correct this "problem" of curiosity that they have. In other words, nobody can stop them from being so curious.

So there's more to this situation than I explained in my post above. The case with unfortunate is like this: poor people = unfortunate people. But the case with incorrigible is not like this: curious people = incorrigible people. It's like this: curious people. How curious? Very, very curious. In fact, incorrigibly curious. (It's not the people who are incorrigible. It's their curiosity that is incorrigible.)

In short,

The people are unfortunate, and the people are poor.
The people are curious, and their curiosity is incorrigible.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous1. Do Are all adjectives when used as a noun ~~are~~ always plural and therefore takes a plural verb?

Yes. At least I can't think of any exceptions other than the ones I mention below.

AnonymousIsn't it possible to use an adjective made a noun as singular?

No. As I said above, I don't know of a case where that is done except as noted below.

Anonymous... the youngest of the siblings. ...

Is 'youngest' in the example above also an adjective made a noun? and is singular?

Yes. Superlatives are treated differently. The youngest is ... The fastest is ... And the same goes for ordinal numbers: The first is ... The last is ... The second is ... And even: The next is ...
In these cases you can only have one, so it has to be singular. (There are situations where you may be thinking of a group, however. For example, referring to the fastest cars: The fastest are the most expensive.)

But in the general case (the rich, the poor, the curious) you can have more than one, so these are treated as plural. These are not really very commonly used in everyday conversation, by the way. They are a bit literary.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hi CJ,

CalifJim
AnonymousI read somewhere in this forum something which says "For the incorrigibly curious, he includes...", do you think it should have read "For the incorrigible curious..." since 'curious' functions as a noun here?
Ah, yes. Now we have to talk about something else, because it looks like there's a contradiction here.

Before I go on with my analysis of what you written here, I just have a quick question. Does your 'yes' here mean 'the incorrigibly curious' is wrong and it should have been 'the incorrigible curious' since 'curious' here is a noun? Like in this another example: The incorrigible curious have lots of questions on their mind.

I had a quick look to the rest of your explanations, although I'm still in the process of digesting it. I may have some questions to follow later if you wouldn't mind, although it looks like you've already explained everything clearly. Thank you for that. I really appreciate it.

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim
AnonymousI read somewhere in this forum something which says "For the incorrigibly curious, he includes...", do you think it should have read "For the incorrigible curious..." since 'curious' functions as a noun here?
Ah, yes.

I hope you don't mind me asking this. Does 'yes' here mean 'the incorrigibly curious' (where curious is a noun) is correct? Or you said 'yes' to let me know you did see the phrase in this forum?

I just can't confirm my conclusion from the context, and it's just me. Thank you so much in advance.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousBefore I go on with my analysis of what you written here, I just have a quick question. Does your 'yes' here mean 'the incorrigibly curious' is wrong and it should have been 'the incorrigible curious' since 'curious' here is a noun?

No!

"Ah, yes" at the beginning of that post is simply a way of saying, "Oh, well!" or "Oh, my goodness. I hadn't thought of that!" or "Ah! Yes, I see your point. I forgot that there was more for me to explain!" It has nothing to do with the correctness of "incorrigibly curious", which is correct.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim"Ah, yes" at the beginning of that post is simply a way of saying, "Oh, well!" or "Oh, my goodness. I hadn't thought of that!" or "Ah! Yes, I see your point. I forgot that there was more for me to explain!" It has nothing to do with the correctness of "incorrigibly curious", which is correct.

Sorry I've replied just now, but thank you so much, CJ, for that clarification. I got confused because I thought the 'yes' was the answer to my question, but I see it was just an expression. Everything is now clear to me.

CalifJimIn short,
The people are unfortunate, and the people are poor.
The people are curious, and their curiosity is incorrigible.

I believe I understand now. Rewriting my original examples by adding the word 'people', it will be as follows:
The unfortunate, poor people eat one meal a day. (= The unfortunate poor eat...)

The incorrigibly curious people have lots of questions on their mind. (= The incorrigibly curious have...)

I hope I've got the right idea. Kindly confirm. Thanks.
Incidentally, do you think that comma (,) is necessary in "The unfortunate(,) curious people..."?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousThe unfortunate, poor people eat one meal a day. (= The unfortunate poor eat...)
The incorrigibly curious people have lots of questions on their mind. (= The incorrigibly curious have...)

I hope I've got the right idea. Kindly confirm. Thanks.

I can confirm that. Yes.

Anonymousdo you think that comma (,) is necessary in "The unfortunate(,) curious people..."?

This isn't in either of your sentences, but if I wrote it, I would probably leave out the comma. Why would curious people be unfortunate?

CJ

The unfortunate poor vs. the unfortunately poor

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