"Special" or "specials"

Question

I would like to know if in the following sentence, special should be plural or not.

The red apples are not special.

I do not feel that this is correct.

Hello and welcome. This question is too basic for this site. You might be interested in our proposed sister site for English language learners. You can support it by committing. Thank you. — RegDwigнt, Jan 01 '13 at 20:00
Would it similarly bother you if someone said that the special apples were not red? Would you want them to be reds instead? — tchrist, Jan 01 '13 at 20:05
Hello @RegDwighт I understand and thank you for provide me this information... — raulricardo21, Jan 02 '13 at 02:30

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 01 '13 at 19:16

8

Adjectives in English are not inflected for number. Special describing a single object remains special when applied to more than one.

The red apples are not special.
The special apples are not red.
The English apples are tasty.

None of the adjectives, red, special, English or tasty, differ from a "singular" form.

answered Jan 01 '13 at 19:16

Andrew Leach

1

Well, apart from the four demonstrative determiners (this, these, that, those), which some folks (rather dubiously) call adjectives. – tchrist Jan 01 '13 at 19:28

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 01 '13 at 19:18

In English, plural adjectives are not written differently:

One apple is special.

Two apples are special.

If you put an "s" at the end of special, then you're treating it like a noun:

I watched a special last night on holiday traditions.

I watched two specials last night, one after the other.

2 Answers2