in this sentence: "they told the restless to go home"...is the word 'restless' an adjective or a noun?

Question

and how do you know?

Answer 1

Noun. 'They' were speaking to 'restless'. Kind of difficult to speak to a description - an adjective!

After answering, I read the answer by neniaf below. She is very correct! But use caution - I regularly hear (people using) poor grammar including "them people" in my part of the world!

Good luck!

Answer 2

It is a noun. You can tell which it is by understanding what an adjective is and what a noun is. An adjective is a word that describes a noun, while a noun is a person/place/thing.

In that sentence, "restless" is not being used to describe anything. In fact, it is used to refer to a group of people.

If instead, the sentence read "They told the restless people to go home," then "restless" would be describing the state of "people". In that case, "restless" would be an adjective, and "people" a noun.

Answer 3

noun. it could be argued that its an adjective as well but by definition an adjective describes a noun and if we consider it an adjective then where is the noun it is describing? if the sentence were changed to " they told the restless people to go home" then people would be noun and restless the adjective but since there is no noun in your sentence , restless takes the place of the noun. i cant list any source here as there is none ...i have just been speaking english all my life ....lol ...when i started answering there were no answers here and when i finished there were 8 ... well atleast you have other people here who reinforce my viewpoint to you ...lol

Answer 4

Noun "They" said something to a group (noun) "the restless."

If it were "They told the restless boys to go home" 'restless' would be an adjective describing the noun 'boys.'

Answer 5

restless is a noun because it is the subject of the sentence.

If the sentence read: they told the restless people to go home...
then restless would be an adjective because it describes the people.

Answer 6

It is used as a noun here, and you can tell because you can substitute in an appropriate pronoun for "the restless" (them). It is, however, an implied adjective, in that what they mean is "the restless people". If it said that, and you were to substitute "them" for "the restless" only, you would be left with "them people", which I would hope you recognize is not very grammatical!

Answer 7

It's a noun in that sentence, because it's used to identify the 'who' doing the 'what'. If the sentence had read "they told the restless congregation to go home", then it would have been an adjective, because it is used to describe the 'who' (the congregation) doing the 'what'.

Answer 8

Restless is an adjective b/c it describes the group of people

Answer 9

It is a noun. a person, place or thing. The restless are a bunch of people or things.

Actually its a predicate noun.

Answer 10

Neniaf's explanation is perfect except for one thing, " them people " is perfectly OK. Whether it is non-grammatical is debatable -- the way it really offends is by not being "upper class." I am always amused by highly educated people who look down on the speech of less formally educated people. If native speakers use a phrase routinely, and it is clear in meaning, then it is good speech, whether the grammar teachers like it or not. I had a grammarian correct me once by saying "A Roman would never have approved of that." hahahah! I think it's Reynolds Price who in one of his books has a 10th generation southern mountain woman as a secretary at a college. She gets a compliment from one of the profs that he is surprised at how well she writes English - she says, My ancestors were writing "Hamlet" and "Paradise Lost" when yours were still selling scissors on the steps of Odessa.
I guess that comment could be considered Anti-semitic, which is regretful, but she was speaking truth to power. we don't have to submit to the grammar-nazis!!!!