Re: self-aggrandizing ignorant

"Marshall" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote in message news:1147920128.729352.191540_at_i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Bob Badour wrote:
> >
> > Like the subject of the following sentence, the noun is silent.
>
> Rather than go with an assumed, missing noun, I'd just say that
> an adjective can function as a noun in the right context. The fact
> that we often pluralize adjectives the way we do nouns when doing
> so backs that up.
>
> "Do you like those colored candies? The reds are my favorite."
>
> Consider also that we use an article in front of an adjective used
> this way.
>
> "You know Sydney Greenstreet? He often used to play the heavy."
>
> I think there's probably something witty a la Safire's "You can
> verb anything" floating around here somewhere.
>
>
> Marshall
>
> PS. Maltese Falcon rules.
>

You are correct. Basically, the "parts of speech" (noun, verb, adjective) concept gained favor during the analysis of Latin, a language where that concept is extremely useful. When "English Grammar" was invented, the structure of Latin Grammar was superimposed on it. In northern European precursors to English, the "parts of speech" concept was shaky at best. Notice that I used "invented" rather than "discovered" in the above. Grammar can be either an invention or a discovery, depending on the agenda of the grammarian.

The same can be said about database design principles. Some people invent database design principles. Others discover them. Received on Thu May 18 2006 - 12:55:07 CEST