Learn English – Can we use articles with adjectives

articlesgrammar

https://m.9gag.com/gag/aGeAxDw
In this video
the girl says I think I can smell the spiritual

As far as I know articles can not be used with adjectives . No?

Best Answer

An adjective can often be used with a determiner (in this case the definite article) to become a noun that refers to all things that can be described by the adjective.

For example:

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

or:

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

or even:

“... Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A more sensible use of "the spiritual" might be:

"When we go in search of the spiritual, we leave the physical behind.

Here "the spiritual" refers to "any or all spiritual things".

In the video, the joke is that "the spiritual" is taken to mean sweaty body odour. I shows that she doesn't understand or believe yoga's spiritual value and sees it only as a sweaty exercise.

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