Collins Cobuild English Grammar (14 page)

1.64
    Nouns that are being used metaphorically (= when one thing is used to describe another thing) often have a modifier or some other form of extra information, often in the form of a phrase beginning with
of
, to show what is really being referred to.

…
the maze of politics
.
He has been prepared to sacrifice this company on
the altar of his own political ambitions
.
He has worked out a scheme for
an economic lifeline
by purchasing land.
Lloyd’s of London is
the heart of the world’s insurance industry
.
…those on the lower rungs of
the professional ladder
.

list of nouns that are rarely used alone

1.65
    Many nouns have some meanings that need a modifier or some other form of extra information, and other meanings that do not.

Here is a list of these nouns:

affair

approach

area

back

band

base

bottom

boundary

branch

case

centre

circumstances

citizenship

class

condition

crisis

culture

depth

development

discovery

eater

edge

edition

element

end

enterprise

epidemic

experience

extent

feeling

field

formation

fringe

ground

growth

head

height

impression

inception

kind

length

level

limit

line

matter

movement

nature

note

period

point

position

power

prime

range

rate

regime

relic

repertoire

rise

role

scale

side

sort

stage

status

structure

stuff

style

system

texture

theory

thought

time

tone

top

transfer

type

version

view

wave

way

wear

wing

world

Adjectives used as nouns:
the poor
,
the impossible

1.66
    When you want to talk about groups of people who share the same characteristic or quality, you can use
the
+ adjective. For example, instead of saying
poor people
, you can say
the poor
.

…the help that’s given to
the blind
.
No effort is made to cater for the needs of
the elderly
.
…the task of rescuing
the injured
.
…men and women who would join the sad ranks of
the unemployed
.
Working with
the young
is stimulating and full of surprises.
…providing care for
the sick
,
the aged
,
the workless
and
the poor
.

Note that you never add
-s
to the adjective, even though it always refers to more than one person.

BE CREATIVE

1.67
    Although some adjectives are commonly used in this way, in fact it is possible to use almost any adjective in this way.

noun–verb agreement

1.68
    When the adjective being used as a noun is the subject of a verb, you use a plural form of the verb.

The rich have benefited
much more than the poor.

being more specific

1.69
    If you want to talk about a more specific group of people, you put a
submodifying adverb
(= an adverb that you put in front of an adjective to give more information about it) or another adjective in front of the headword. For more information about submodifying adverbs, see paragraphs
2.140
to
2.168
.

In this anecdote, Ray shows his affection for
the very old
and
the very young
.
…
the highly educated
.
…
the urban poor
.

If you mention two groups, you sometimes omit
the
.

…a study that compared the diets of
rich and poor
in several nations.
…to help break down the barriers between
young and old
.

With a few words such as
unemployed
and
dead
, you can say how many people you are referring to by putting a number in front of them.

We estimate there are about
three hundred dead
.

qualities

1.70
    When you want to refer to the quality of something rather than to the thing itself, you can use the appropriate adjective with
the
.

Don’t you think that you’re wanting
the impossible
?
He is still exploring the limits of
the possible
.
…a mix of
the traditional
and
the modern
.

colours

1.71
    All colour adjectives can also be used as nouns.

…patches of
blue
.
…brilliant paintings in
reds
and
greens
and
blues
.

Clothing of a particular colour can be referred to simply by using the colour adjective.

The men wore
grey
.
…the fat lady in
black
.

USAGE NOTE

1.72
    Nationality adjectives that end in
-ch
,
-sh
,
-se
, or
-ss
can be used in a similar way, unless there is a separate noun for the people. For example, French people are referred to as
the French
but Polish people are referred to as
Poles
or
the Poles
.

For many years
the Japanese
have dominated the market for Chinese porcelain.
Britons are the biggest consumers of chocolate after
the Swiss
and
the Irish
.

Nouns referring to males or females

1.73
    English nouns are not masculine, feminine, or neuter in the way that nouns in some other languages are. For example, most names of jobs, such as
teacher
,
doctor
, and
writer
, are used for both men and women.