Learn English – “I hate red color” or “I hate red”: why exactly is the first option ungrammatical

adjectivesdeterminersphrase-usage

If a person wants to say that the most hated color for him is red (in general, no specific hues implied), could he say:

  1. I hate red color.

I've found very little results for this sentence at Google. Is this combination (red color) very awkward in its effect?

I guess the natural way is to say:

  1. I hate red.

But it's interesting why exactly the combination "red color" is unnatural in English in this context. In Russian, a similar phrase would be perfectly okay.

Is it because color calls for an article, and this would in turn call for the continuation of the sentence:

  1. I hate the/a red color of … (something).

I've been proofreading one text at lang-8 and found myself unable to explain in simple words why hating "red color" could be an unnatural phrase.

Best Answer

When "red" is followed by a noun, native English speakers will classify "red" as an adjective. If that noun is then singular (and the noun phrase is undetermined, i.e. has no definite article, indefinite article, or other determiner like "this" or "your" or something), then native English speakers hear the sentence as ungrammatical.

I hate red bicycles.

This one is grammatical because bicycles is plural. It is therefore like saying I hate bicycles but with the qualification that the bicycles are red.

I hate red meat.

This one is grammatical because meat is a mass noun, meaning it applies to a quantity of something, not a single something.

I hate red telephone.

This one, like I hate red color, sounds wrong because telephone is singular.

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