Janet,
   There are also fine examples from "The Sermon on the Mount." "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." It also includes "the poor in spirit", "the merciful", and "the pure in heart".
   "He feared the worst." "He hoped for the best." "I wish you the best."
   It's not an isolated instance.
   I try to fall back on "Isn't it neat that we can do this?" The language is larger than our explanations of it, just as life is larger than biology.

Craig


Castilleja, Janet wrote:
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Here is a sentence I always struggle with when I'm trying to explain sentence structure to students: the best is yet to come.  'best' seems so clearly to be an adjective and yet is so clearly functioning as a noun would function.  We somehow always seem to stumble on a sentence like this right after I’ve discussed comparatives and modifiers.

 

Janet Castilleja

 

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