http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aDemonstrative+Adjectives+tag%3aPluralsSearch results for 'tag:Demonstrative Adjectives tag:Plurals' matching tags 'Demonstrative Adjectives' and 'Plurals'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3273.32735)http://www.englishforums.com/English/PastParticiplesUsedNouns/vgxcz/post.htm#367647Sat, 19 May 2007 19:04:31 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:367647cliveHi I am afraid I phrased my question wrongly I meant to ask about the use of a plural for the past participle A search through the OED gives only 2 results for words ending in eds i e undecideds and intendeds this latter example being quite old Dickens 1838 Webster s matter of factly gives an example with undecideds but it seems to be the only instance available of such a use Are you still among the undecideds I wonder if it would not be possible to simply write We drive those undecided into the arms of the enemy instead of We drive those undecideds into the arms of the enemy Yes You could also write those people who were undecided I think undecided is really just a reduced or abbreviated form of that The use of the plural form seems to be unnecessary and very rare indeed I wouldn t entirely call the plural form unnecessary Consider the two different structures involved In those undecided I see undecided as an adjective qualifying the demostrative pronoun that In those decideds those is a is a demonstrative adjective qualifying the noun undecideds I think this kind of usage often comes about from a scenario like this You have a list of people who have committed their vote to a particular party Then you have a list of people whose vote is currently uncommitted The headings for these two lists are Committed and Uncommitted Now as a kind of shorthand you can refer to them by using the title eg You can say things like There are more committeds than uncommitteds Sometimes the quotes are omitted although I d prefer to use them If enough people start to say and to write this the words will eventually find their way into the dictionary You searched through the entire OED Wow How about beloved You are my beloved In my whole life I have only had two beloveds Best wishes Clive http://www.englishforums.com/English/ThatDemonstrativePronoun/dqnqg/post.htm#333206Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:50:00 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:333206cliveHi That can be a demonstrative pronoun eg Look at that That can be a demonstrative adjective eg Look at that tiger The plural form is those eg Look at those tigers That can be a conjunction introducing a subordinate clause eg Tom knows that Mary loves her Now let s simplify your rather complicated sentences and look at them 1 Ensure that paths are marked on the ground Here that is a conjunction introducing the clause that follows it You could omit it and just say Ensure paths are marked on the ground 2 Ensure those paths are marked on the ground Here those is a plural demonstrative adjective qualifying paths I hope you can now understand these sentences if not please write again Best wishes Clivehttp://www.englishforums.com/English/QuestionAboutGeneralGrammar/mnjz/post.htm#62871Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:49:44 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:62871mister micawberThese cover most instances 1 When the noun is plural and is referring to all like items generally Lions are big cats 2 When the noun is uncountable and is referring to all like substances generally Sugar is sweet 3 When the noun is preceded by another determiner a possessive or a demonstrative adjective My elephant is pregnant This banana is overripe 4 There are a number of idiomatic cases of omitted articles on foot at school by airmail in bed after midnight etc There are some other minor instances but these four will cover 95 of the zero articles I think