0
Supercat Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Unsuccessful? Failure?

You can't install software to your PC. You'd say:
The installation is unsuccessful.

But is The installation is failure. wrong?
If so, is this just a matter of expression;  'The installation unsuccessful'  is just common?
  

Top answer

You can say eg The installation was a success. eg The installation was a failure. eg The installation succeeded.

— Clive

  • You can say eg The installation was a success.
  • eg The installation was a failure.
  • eg The installation succeeded.
  • eg The installation failed.
  • eg The installation was successful.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

6 Answers
0
You can say
eg The installation was a success.
eg The installation was a failure.

eg The installation succeeded.
eg The installation failed.

eg The installation
0
0
CliveThe installation was a failure.
Then the use of 'failure' isn't wrong. Thanks
0
0
The installation was failure. Wrong
Th installation was a failure. Right
0
0
Supercat Then the use of 'failure' isn't wrong. Thanks
It needn't be wrong as Clive has demonstrated above.

The installation was unsuccessful. No article is used because "unsuccessful" is an adjective.

The installation was a failure.
The "a" is needed because "failure" is a singular countable noun.
0
0
Yes Oxford says
1.1 [count noun] An unsuccessful person or thing.
I should have checked it.

Well, I just wondered:

The installation was unsuccessful.
This is Noun=adjective.
But
The installation was a failure.
Here you use a noun, Noun=noun

In such examples I thought that selecting an adjective would be better, but this is not
0
0
'Successful' is an adjective derived from the noun 'success'.
There is no similar adjective derived from the noun 'failure'.

Clive
0

Related Questions