adjectives - How reliable is Word's grammar checker?

I am a foolish. How s you.

Do these sentences have grammar problems?

Because I think foolish is an adjective.

In general, how reliable is Word's grammar checker? What do I have to watch out for?

Answer

1. 
   

   An odd fact of English, which differentiates it from all the other (European) languages I have even a smattering of, is that English adjectives are not ordinarily used as nouns.^†

   
   

   That means that 'a foolish' is in most contexts ungrammatical, since foolish is an adjective and the article a marks what follows as a noun. You must say either

   
   

   
   

   I am a fool    or
   I am foolish.

   
   

   
   



2. 
   

   How s you (I assume this is a typo for How is you? or How's you) is ungrammatical. In this instance, you acts as the subject of the verb, which therefore must be are.

   
   

You cannot always trust Word for the subtleties of the language; but it will flag these every time, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will be right.

---

^† There are two major exceptions to this:

• 
  

  You may speak of the ADJECTIVE when you mean everybody who is (or everything which is) ADJECTIVE:

  
  
  

  
  

  The meek shall inherit the earth.  It is those who are meek who will inherit the earth.
  We should be kind to the poor.  We should be kind to everyone who is poor.

  
  

  
  

  But you cannot extend this use to individuals—cannot, for instance, say

  
  

  
  

  ^✲I gave $20 to a poor this morning.
  ^✲The poors who live under the bridge need winter clothing.

  
  

  
  

  You must say a poor man or the poor people.

  
  
  


• 
  

  You may use ADJECTIVE as a noun when ADJECTIVE designates members of a category of objects or people which is either self-evident or has been specifically delineated. For instance, if someone offers you your choice of red, yellow and green T-shirts you might say

  
  

  
  

  I'll take one of the greens or
  Could I have a red?

  
  

  
  

  Or if a test of a skill divides people into 'poor', 'fair', 'good' and 'excellent' performers, you may have to admit that

  
  

  
  

  I'm a poor.

  
  
  

  
  

^✲ marks a usage as unacceptable