Clive  +  261774 Fri, 01 Sep 06 09:05 PM Hi, In a plastic bag, I see plastic as an adjective. My dictionary also shows plastic as both noun and adjective (made of plastic, pliant). Can we say it's a noun because we can't add "er" to form "a plasticer bag"???   No, definitely not, that's not a good way to exclusively identify an adjective. eg we don't say Mary is beautifuller than Betty. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,300 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Nouns

	Alienvoord  +  261779 Fri, 01 Sep 06 10:13 PM  Clive wrote: Hi, In a plastic bag, I see plastic as an adjective. My dictionary also shows plastic as both noun and adjective (made of plastic, pliant). Can we say it's a noun because we can't add "er" to form "a plasticer bag"???   No, definitely not, that's not a good way to exclusively identify an adjective. eg we don't say Mary is beautifuller than Betty. Best wishes, Clive I was wrong to say that "plastic" was not an adjective because we cannot add "er". We use "more" and "most" for a lot of adjectives instead of adding "er" and "est" - as I said in my first post, and then forgot all about We can say "more plastic", so I would say that "plastic" is an adjective in "plastic bag". Alienvoord Nouns

	Maple  +  261785 Fri, 01 Sep 06 10:38 PM Oops again. Yes, plastic in "a plastic bag" is an adj. It's the VERY example in Oxford Dict I just found out. So my former conception of it is right. Now I still don't think that adding “er” to the end of and/or adding “more” in front of a modifier are the correct methods to test whether that modifier is an adj or a noun. Maple Nouns

	Clive  +  261787 Fri, 01 Sep 06 10:57 PM Hi Maple, If I may ask, do you really find you have a lot of trouble identifying adjectives? Is this trouble causing you difficulties in speaking correct English? Best wishes, Clive Clive

	Maple  +  261825 Sat, 02 Sep 06 06:31 AM Hi Clive This is the first time I read the method "We know it's a noun because we cannot add "er" like we can with adjectives" I'm curious if it's correct or not. If it's true, it can surely make things simplier. This is bothering me: We can say "more plastic", so I would say that "plastic" is an adjective in "plastic bag". I don't know what “more plastic” mean. And I know it's from a native speaker.  So I'm curious about its meaning and the correctness of that method. Maple Nouns

	Maple  +  261826 Sat, 02 Sep 06 06:43 AM  Clive wrote: If I may ask, do you really find you have a lot of trouble identifying adjectives? Is this trouble causing you difficulties in speaking correct English? I temporarily really found some trouble to identify "plastic". Because I didn't read carefully enough all the items in American Heritage Dictionary. And it does not pass that testing method of add "er" to the end of it. But I should have read more carefully or have looked it up in another dictionary at once. Thus the  post 261753 and 261758 would not appear.   Maple

	Clive  +  261933 Sat, 02 Sep 06 04:53 PM Hi, "We know it's a noun because we cannot add "er" like we can with adjectives" I'm curious if it's correct or not. If it's true, it can surely make things simpler. No, the -er method suggested above is not a good idea. With only some adjectives, we add -er to make the comparative form. eg small  - this object is smaller than that object. In simple terms, -er is used with adjectives of one syllable and adjectives that end in 'y' (eg happy). However, with other adjectives, we use the word 'more', eg more interesting.  Best wishes, Clive Clive Nouns