Certain adjectives perform dual function, i.e., they describe as well as indicate things, people, and concepts like nouns. In other words, they perform as adjectives as well as nouns simultaneously, and are used to name groups of people, ideas, or actions. The adjectives with no nouns are used in formal writing for a number of purposes. First, the general ideas that are expressed by adjectives are used to name general groups of people that possess certain characteristics. Further, these adjectives are placed in the positions of grammatical subject, object, complement or the object of preposition in sentences. The nouns associated to these adjectives are discoverable from the context. Furthermore, these adjectives are mostly in comparative and superlative form. However, base-form adjectives can also be used for this purpose but they fall in fixed phrases. This post covers all these aspects of these adjectives with illustrating and clarifying examples so that these become easy to understand.
1. Use of Adjectives without Nouns
In addition to the pre-noun and predicative positions, adjectives can stay in other parts of a sentence without any noun. For example:
a. The rich are morally bound to spend their wealth for social welfare.
b. It is not possible to ignore the inevitable.
It is clear from the examples presented above that there are no visible nouns which stay as the head noun of the highlighted adjectives. However, it can be noticed that the nouns are still understood which are being described by the highlighted adjectives. In example (a), the unmentioned noun is ‘people’ and in (b), it may be ‘outcome,’ ‘change’, etc. These nouns can be understood with the help of the context.
Mostly adjectives are associated with nouns. The position of an adjective regarding a noun can be attributive (before a noun), or post-positive (next to a noun). An adjective can also stay predicatively (after a linking verb, i.e., be, seem, appear, etc.). The role of this adjective is to describe or complement the noun that stays in the position of grammatical subject. However, some adjectives can stay without a noun in a sentence. The function of such adjectives is to indicate something specific. These adjectives are used to name a general group of people who carry certain characteristic. For example:
a. The poems in this collection have been written by the talented.
b. The poor deserve our support every day.
c. I always show respect to the elderly.
These adjectives can also be used to describe a single thing instead of a general group of people. For example:
a. This scientist is making effort to achieve the impossible.
b. The achievement of peace looks almost unthinkable in the current era.
In these constructions, the unmentioned nouns can be ‘solution’ and ‘aim’ respectively. Commonly, it is not possible to put many adjectives in such positions. When thinking to use adjectives in this position, it is important to know which adjectives can be used in this manner. The adjectives that are in focus here require ‘the’ before them. The use of ‘the’ in such constructions is also unusual.
2. Use of Base-Form Adjectives without Nouns
The base-form adjectives without nouns mostly stay in fixed phrases (most of them are idiomatic). Such phrases commonly begin with a preposition. Further some of these phrases incorporate the and others do not. For example:
a. Bearing the rough treatment of my father was disappointing, but missing his patronship entirely would have been far worse.
b. Mountain climbers need to be on the alert for the steepness of the hills.
Some other nounless base-form adjectives are: of late, for sure, by far, for good, in full, in general, in the black, in the clear, etc.
3. Use of Superlative and Comparative Adjectives without Nouns
At times, superlative and comparative adjectives can go without nouns when these adjectives are staying in sentence positions which are commonly noun specific. These positions are subject, object, complement, or object of preposition. The occurrence of these adjectives without nouns is possible in these positions because the nouns are either obvious or discoverable with the help of context. For example:
a. The answers were examined and the most convincing was accepted.
b. The fittest of all times was hired.
In both the examples given above, the subject of a verb is in the form of the lone superlative adjectives. The head nouns of these adjectives are certainly answers and time.
Similarly, comparative adjectives without nouns can be used, as nouns related to them can be discovered with the help of surrounding words in the sentence. For example:
a. The answers were examined and the more convincing was accepted.
It is to be noted that the adjectives that are not in comparative or superlative form cannot be used as nounless adjectives. In the case of these adjectives, either the noun is to be repeated or replaced by the pronoun (a/the) one. For example:
a. The answers were examined and the more convincing answer was accepted.
b. The answers were examined and the more convincing one was accepted.
If the dropped noun of a superlative or comparative adjective is not discoverable from the surrounding words, such adjective is provided with its related noun. Such adjectives are mostly in fixed idiomatic phrases. For example:
a. Visiting different countries has changed my outlook on life for the better.
b. Even though my failure in high-stake tests was hard, it later turned to be for the best.
The other fixed idiomatic phrases which carry superlative or comparative adjectives are: at worst, at its -est, know the worst, do one’s best/ worst, etc.
4. Use of Nominalized Adjectives
The adjective used without nouns can be in nominalized form. For example:
a. The long and short of it is that they drowned because they did not know how to swim.
b. We have to travel long before we are able to do the necessary.
Some other adjectives of this category are: from the sublime to the ridiculous and to state the obvious
5. Use of General Idea Expressing Adjectives without Nouns
A number of adjectives can be used without a noun for expressing some general idea. The noun that is omitted and can be understood from the context may be ‘place’, ‘person’, ‘situation’, ‘event’, ‘action’, ‘information’, ‘idea’, or ‘thing’. For example:
a. We have taken all cares and measures and now our success is up to The Almighty.
b. Asgar made him ready to face the unexpected when jumped over the wall.
The other such adjectives are: the unthinkable, the like, the above, the familiar, the unknowable, the unseen, the impossible, the wild, the unusual and the unknown.
As indicated above, these nounless adjectives are used to express general ideas. However,
when a more specific or precise meaning has to be expressed, these adjectives will require a noun that follows them. It means in such case, these adjectives cannot be used without nouns, as shown in the example given below:
a. Most of the population of this town is civic enough; the unexpected part is the rich.
6. A Group Representing Adjectives
The group of words that describes unmentioned entities (e.g., people) not only carry the and an adjective like the talented, but also the superlative, such as the most talented. Such groups have a number of features whose details have been given below.
6.1 Adjective Constructions Initiated by The
One such features is that these groups are initiated by the. For example:
a. The talented do wonders in their lives.
b. The skilled often perform in a safe manner.
c. The cunning are mostly disliked in the society. The examples given above indicate that the is the mandatory part of the adjective, i.e., these adjectives cannot stay without the.
6.2 Grammatically Plural Adjective Constructions
Another feature of these constructions is that they are grammatically plural. On account of this feature, the neighboring words which are required to agree with these must also be plural. For example, the verbs used in sub-section 6.1 after the talented and the cunning are do and are which are grammatically plural.
These nounal adjectives stand for human groups as these cannot be used for things and animals. When these adjectives are used for non-human beings, the needs be dropped and a noun or a noun phrase is required to be added. For example:
a. Barking dogs seldom bite.
b. Empty barrels make the most noise
The reference of the above-mentioned combination is general, i.e. it refers to all people. In other words, it does not refer to sub-groups of human beings.
However, subgroups can be indicated by placing a pronoun like ‘most of’, ‘many of’, or ‘some of’ before the group, e.g., some of the talented. Further, the nouns or pronouns like people or ones are required to be placed after the group e.g. some of the talented students.
7. General People-referring Constructions
As has been indicated above, the construction ‘the + adjective + ones’ performs the function of referring to a specific sub-division of a group. However, at times, it can give a general people-referring meanings as well. For example:
a. The elderly people ask for simple food, but the young ones prefer spicy.
b. Try not to mix the clear ideas with the fuzzy ones.
In sum, some adjectives can take the position of nouns in certain contexts. Though the nouns which are described, or replaced by these adjectives are not physically present, yet can be understood on the basis of the context. Such adjectives are commonly used to name groups of people, ideas, or actions in general form. These adjectives are mostly in superlative and comparative form. However, these can be in base-form as well as in nominalized form. Further, these adjectives can be in groups or subgroups indicating role. For writers, learning the way these are used and the role these perform in writing is very important for enhancing the quality of academic texts.
