As we know, an adjective modifies a noun and sometimes a noun also modifies a noun and works as an adjective. But my question is, can an adjective or a noun be used in a plural form to modify a noun in English. I have asked this as I read it on a news website.
On the news website:
"These women will also look for younger men. And then you start seeing
men in the streets fighting."As per my opinion it should have been used:
"These women will also look for younger men. And then you start seeing
men in the street fighting."
Best Answer
In your example, the sentence
could be rephrased as:
The word streets here is not being used as an 'adjectivized noun'. The writer does not want to stress that the men are engaged in 'street-fighting', he wants to say that a passer-by will start noticing fighting men now and then in the streets.
Had the author wanted to say what you thought he wanted, he would have written, for instance:
A noun, when used in the adjective role, cannot assume the plural form. Some English nouns, however, look as if they are in the plural: news, athletics, although they are not really. Hence, we have a news reporter, an athletics coach - these may mislead a non-native speaker sometimes.