Adjectives as nouns Adjective order

Adjectives as nouns

1. NATIONALITIES

2. SPECIFIC GROUPS OF PEOPLE

3. ONE, ONES

1. To talk about nationalities we have different possibilities:

A. You can use THE + ADJ: The English are reserved.

B. Or ADJ + PEOPLE: English people are reserved.

C. Special noun: Spaniards love bullfights.

A. THE + ADJ:

• You can use THE + ADJ with nationality adjectives that end in –sh, -ch, -ss, or –ese:

The French are romantic. The English love tea.

The Swiss are very punctual. The Chinese work a lot.

• Nationality words which end in –an and some others , add –s to the adjective (they’re also nouns):

The Argentinians talk a lot. The Italians are good fun.

The Greeks love their history. The Thais are shy.

B. ADJ + PEOPLE:

With any nationality you can use the ADJECTIVE + PEOPLE, without the article:

English people are reserved.

French people are romantic.

Greek people love their history.

Argentinian people talk a lot.

C. SPECIAL NOUN :

Some nationalities have a special noun which is different from the adjective. In these cases you can either use the options mentioned before:

THE + ADJ ADJ + PEOPLE OR THE + NOUN

Spain-The Spaniards Sweden -The Swedes

Scotland -The Scots Denmark -The Danes

Finland- The Finns Turkey- The Turks

Poland -The Poles

To talk about ONE person you can use A + NOUN, (if there’s noun), if not, or if you want specify the gender, you must use the ADJ + MAN,WOMAN, BOY, etc.

A Pole An Italian

A Greek A French boy

A Japanese girl

They’re are usually written as two words but occasionally you can also find them as one word.

A Frenchman

An Englishman

2. You can use THE + ADJ to talk about specific groups of people in society.

These expressions are always plural.

The poor are poorer now than before.

The rich are fewer and fewer.

The unemployed have no choices.

The young don’t like having rules.

When you don’t want to repeat a noun after an adjective because it is already clear what we’re talking about, we use ADJ + ONE or ONES (plural). This structure is very common in spoken English.

Would you like a big ice-cream or a small one?

A: Do you prefer teaching younger or older children?

B: The younger ones are easier to teach, I’d say

Underline the correct word(s).

Underline the correct word(s).

Example: In some towns there isn’t enough entertainment for young / the young.

The Frenches / French enjoy good food.

My brother has short dark / dark short hair.

He wore a striped new blue / new blue striped T-

shirt and jeans to the party.

The Italian / Italians have a great sense of style.

Example: In some towns there isn’t enough entertainment for young / the young.

The Frenches / French enjoy good food.

My brother has short dark / dark short hair.

He wore a striped new blue / new blue striped T-

shirt and jeans to the party.

The Italian / Italians have a great sense of style.

Poor / The poor in many countries rely on charity to survive.

I bought some little silver lovely / lovely little silver earrings

in Paris.

He was so / such cold that he couldn’t feel his toes.

I can’t believe you drove such a / such long way to visit her.

Poor / The poor in many countries rely on charity to survive.

I bought some little silver lovely / lovely little silver earrings

in Paris.

He was so / such cold that he couldn’t feel his toes.

I can’t believe you drove such a / such long way to visit her.