The + adjective
the + adjective with a plural meaning
A blind, deaf, disabled, healthy/sick, living/dead, rich/poor, unemployed and certain other adjectives describing the human character or condition can be preceded by the and used to represent a class of persons. These expressions have a plural meaning; they take a plural verb and the pronoun is they:
The poor get poorer; the rich get richer.
the can be used in the same way with national adjectives ending in -ch or -sh:
the Dutch
the Spanish
the Welsh
and can be used similarly with national adjectives ending in -se or -ss:
the Burmese
the Chinese
the Japanese
the Swiss though it is just possible for these to have a singular meaning.
B Note that the + adjective here refers to a group of people considered in a general sense only. If we wish to refer to a particular group, we must add a noun:
These seats are for the disabled.
The disabled members of our party were let in free.
The French like to eat well.
The French tourists complained about the food.
Some colours can be used in the plural to represent people but these take s like nouns:
the blacks, the whites.
C the + adjective can occasionally have a singular meaning: the accused (person) the unexpected (thing)
Trương Quốc Phú @ 11:22 19/06/2010
Số lượt xem: 343
- Relative clauses (12/06/10)
- Pronouns (12/06/10)
- Articles (12/06/10)
- NOUNS (11/06/10)
- Reported speech (11/06/10)
Listening To The Radio
- VOV1
- VOV2
- VOV3
- VOV5
Các ý kiến mới nhất