Phrase: only the strong survive. Why 'survive' and not 'survives'?

[Ched133]

Hello,

I heard this expression "only the strong survive" and i was wondering why "survive" and not "survives"

the strong survives in the wild........right? and not the strong survive?

[Molly]

"The strong" are "they" and not "it". They survive.

[Ched133]

Thank you Molly

another question, how could you tell "the strong" is plural and not singular?
It is hard for me to tell because there is no "s" at the end like "the strongs"

Thanks

[Alan]

Hi Ched,

Adjectives are often used as nouns and in that way they are assumed to refer to a number or a group. We can talk about the rich and the poor and in that sense we are talking about poor and rich people and not an individual. If we wanted to indicate singularity, we would have to revert to the adjective function and say: The rich one/the poor one as in: There are two brothers in this town, the rich one lives here and the poor one lives at the other end of town.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story 'the' vs. 'a/an'

[Molly]

[Kwfine]

Hi,

The one I have ever heard of is:
"Only the strong will survive"
Is there any difference with
"Only the strong survive"?
_________________
各位前輩安安, 我是kitty喔!

[Ched133]

Hi Molly

>>What would these be in your language, Ched?
>>the police
the weak
the poor
the downtrodden
the fortunate

There is no singular or plural in Chinese. We just use many to indicate plural.

Thanks Alan and Molly, i will remember that "the adjective" = plural.

[Nanucbe]

The word "adjective" is not an adjective like 'poor'. It is a noun or a naming word which refers to words like 'good' or 'bad.' So here this noun(the word 'adjective') is a singular noun and adding 'the' will not make it refer to a group. You have to use 'the adjectives' if you want the plural. I hope I made myself clear.
Best of luck.
n