Thursday 24 May 2007

AAE Q60: 'professional/professionals''

Hi

Which word form is more accurate

'the actors were really professional'
'the actors were really professionals'
Thanks

Khalid


Hi

The difference between these two sentences is that in the first sentence 'professional' is an adjective and in the second sentence it is a noun (with the plural "professionals").

  • If we say: 'the actors were really professional' (adjective)
We are saying that all the actors behaved in a very professional way

  • If we say: 'the actors were really professionals' (noun)
We are saying that each individual actor was a professional actor (not an amateur actor).


Hope this helps

M

Ps. Thanks to the anonymous person who corrected my original error.

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