Collective adjectives describing group of people

 

 

Collective adjectives act as nouns, each of which describes a group of people who share the same or similar characteristics. Collective adjectives differ from collective nouns although both refer to groups of people: examples of collective nouns are band of musicians, gang of thieves, panel of experts, troupe of dancers; and examples of collective adjectives are the blind, the injured, the old, the young.

Collective adjectives must follow the definite article the (the homeless) and, because they are always treated as plural, take a plural verb (The injured are airlifted to the nearest hospital).  

 

 

Some common collective adjectives are:

 

the aged the hardworking the oppressed
the blind the healthy the poor
the dead the homeless the rich
the deaf the injured the rural poor
the departed the innocent the sick
the deprived the intelligent the strong
the disabled the living the underprivileged
the downtrodden the lonely the unemployed
the dumb the meek the uninformed
the elderly the mentally challenged the weak
the guilty the middle-aged the young
the handicapped the old the young at heart