Adjectives as Nouns – Examples and Practice

Adjectives as Nouns

Activity time

Identify the nouns or adjectives for the words in bold in the following sentences.

1. Her uncle has been living with us for a few days.
2. Have you received the latest news about his marriage?
3. We all are planning to visit Disneyland this vacation.
4. There is a damp feeling in the air due to heavy rain.
5. They are planning a pizza party tonight.
6. My court is better than yours.
7. Our office requires a computer.
8. Their bedroom was quite costly and beautiful.
9. Her daughter is wiser than her.
10. Henry is a muscular woman in this town.

Answer:

1. Uncle – Noun
2. Latest – Adjective
3. Disneyland – Noun
4. Damp – Adjective
5. Pizza – Noun
6. Better – Adjective
7. Office – Noun
8. Bedroom – Noun
9. Wiser – Adjective
10. Muscular – Adjective

Let’s Now Learn about Adjectives as Nouns

First, let us discuss adjectives.

In a sentence, adjectives describe or give additional details about the noun or topic. Adjectives include words like good, ugly, swift, lovely, late, etc.

Example:

• The place we visited on Sunday was serene.
• Have you noticed how large that dog was?
• The current weather is good.
• On your birthday, you looked beautiful in the pink
• For breakfast, my brother just had one piece of bread.

Next, Let’s Discuss Nouns

Nouns name people, places, animals, ideas, and things. Nouns can be divided into two main categories: common and proper nouns. Common nouns are general, such as bag, car, and stick, while appropriate nouns, such as Aiden, brown house, and sun, are more specific.

Example:

• She bought a pink dress.
• I have a pet.
• Is this your box?
• Many people have a fear of darkness.
• She is my sister.
• This is my Office.

You are aware that an adjective modifies, characterizing a noun’s quality. Consider drinking a cup of hot tea. Tea is the noun, and hot is the adjective.

Do you drink lemon tea? Lemon is, in fact, a noun. Why does it change tea?

Nouns are frequently used in English as adjectives to describe other nouns.

For instance, a race car is used in competitions.

A sports car is a vehicle with increased power or speed.

Adjectival nouns or noun modifiers are nouns that modify other nouns.

They are referred to as attributive nouns for our purposes. Have you noticed anything peculiar about the verb tenses used with the noun car? A race car is a vehicle that is used in racing. They are both singular nouns. A sports car is a vehicle with speed and power.

Why are sports, the first noun, plural?

The attributive noun can be singular or plural; there is no set rule for this. It’s accurate, the majority of the time.

However, if a plural noun is present in a group of nouns, it usually remains the same. As a result, words like

A “ladies’ room” (a room intended for women and girls) and

Its “bean soup” (a soup cooked with beans)

Let’s Know When Nouns Act as Adjectives.

Adjectives are nouns, as you know, an adjective is a word that characterizes a noun, and a noun is a person, place, or object. A noun can also be used to describe another noun in English; in this case, the first noun serves as an adjective.

1. The football coach.

The noun football describes a football coach as defined by the noun football in this sentence.

2. The textile shop

In this case, the noun shop is described by the noun textile.

3. A painting exhibition

In this sentence, the noun painting depicts the noun exhibition.

All of the above examples use the initial noun as an adjective.

Let’s learn some rules to convert a noun into an adjective.

It will be easier for you to comprehend what is being said if you keep in mind the following:

1. Always Use the Word – Noun as an Adjective First

The word, “Noun as an adjective” is used before the second or main noun in the sentence.

Here are some further instances.

Example:

• A horse race is a competition between horses.
• A boat race is a contest between boats.
• A love tale is an account of love.
• A war narrative is an account of a war.

2. The Singular Form of the Noun as an Adjective.

Like a reliable adjective, the noun as an adjective is always present. Typically, it takes a single form.

Nouns are employed as adjectives and often use the singular form, much like adjectives, except for a few words, such as clothing, customs, sports, etc.

Example:

In essence, only the second word will have the plural form.

Even though some nouns are always written or spoken in the plural, we treat them as being in the singular form.  Although specific nouns appear plural, we often interpret them as singular, like news, billiards, and athletics.

These nouns remain unchanged when we use them as adjectives.

Example:

• One newscaster, three newscasters
• There are four pool tables and one pool table.
• A sports trainer and fifty sports trainers

Exceptions

With a few exceptions, we employ the plural form of several nouns when we use them as adjectives. For example, clothes, sports, customs, accounts, and arms.

1. How do we write the noun as an adjective?

The proper noun and the noun as an adjective are written in a variety of ways.

Example:

• Two distinct words (Glass door)
• Two words with hyphens (Suit-case)
• One word (Bedroom)

Note:

For this, there are more complex guidelines. Some combinations are written using two or all three methods:

• Headmaster
• Head-master
• Headmaster

2. What does it mean to use a noun as an adjective?

The first word is typically stressed for pronunciation.

Example:

• Shoe store
• Boat-race
• Bathroom

3. Several nouns as an adjective are possible.

Yes. We frequently combine multiple nouns as an adjective, much like adjectives. Consider these instances:

• School Football team coach
• Motor production cost
• Child health care research center

Note:

Can you spot a hidden noun as an adjective in football team coach? Watch the word ‘football’ closely. These two nouns, ‘foot’ and ‘ball,’ have fused to form a single noun (football). One way that words change is in this way.

Many word combinations consisting of a noun and an adjective are deemed to be nouns in and of themselves, each with their dictionary meaning.

However, not all dictionaries concur with one another. For instance, “tennis ball” is listed as a noun in specific dictionaries but not in others.

4. An accurate adjective can also be used as an adjective preceding a noun.

Example:

• Famous cricket player
• Sweet coffee mug
• Delicious Chinese cuisine
• Honest school student
• Rising air pollution

As we’ve seen, modifying adjectives comes before nouns. They are changing. These must be distinguished from nouns that also occur in the same position and provide the same grammatical purpose.