Re: first try at conlanging

En réponse à Stephen Mulraney <ataltanie@...>:

>
> BTW, how do you deal with an adj. that is sometimes used like a noun,
> like
> (I think) 'idiot' - 'il est idiot' ou 'il est un idiot' ?
>
Well, in this case (attribute), you always use it as adjective: "il est idiot".
You never say: *"Il est un idiot". But you do say: "C'est un idiot": "It's a
stupid man". So an adjective used like a noun always refers to a specific
entity (even indefinite, it's still specific), and is used exactly like a noun,
with the same articles. In fact, the example you gave "Il est facteur" is at
the edge of ungrammaticality to me. I'd rather say: "C'est un facteur", because
in the preceeding sentence it almost sounds like "facteur" is used as an
adjective, which is quite strange for this word. I know that according to
prescriptivist grammars this sentence "Il est facteur" is the most correct one,
but it's not true anymore, at least for me.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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