2. Read the words and match them with their definitions

Column A	Column B
Avalanche	a snowstorm with very strong winds
Blizzard	a mass of snow, ice and rock that falls down the side of a mountain
Bushfire	a long period of time when there is little or no rain
Cyclone	a sudden, violent shaking of the earth's surface
Drought	a violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean
Earthquake	a violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle
Flood	is a rupture on the crust of a planetary mass object, such as the Earth, which allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
Hurricane	a large amount of water covering an area that is usually dry
landslide, mudflow	an extremely large wave in the sea caused, for example, by an earthquake
tornado	a fire in a large area of rough open ground, especially one that spreads quickly
tsunami, tidal wave	a mass of earth, rock, etc. that falls down the slope of a mountain or a cliff
volcano	a violent storm with very strong winds which move in a circle. There is often also a long cloud which is narrower at the bottom than the top

Grammar

Adjectives as Nouns

Adjectives are often used as nouns. The specific cases are:

Ellipses of Noun Phrases: Ellipsis is the shortening of a phrase. In this case, we specifically look at noun phrases. Adjectives can act as nouns and can be a subject, object, or complement in a sentence.

Let’s us look at the following examples:

• 'The intelligent are not arrogant'

• ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.'

• ‘The old and the young were evacuated from the building.’

• ‘The rich are privileged.’

‘The rich’, the intelligent’, the meek’, ‘the old’, and ‘the young’ are adjectives acting as nouns. The full noun phrases could be:

• ‘The intelligent (people) are not arrogant’.

• 'The meek (humans) shall inherit the earth.’

• ‘The old (men) and the young (children) were evacuated from the building.’

• ‘The rich (people) are privileged.’

In the examples illustrated above, the adjectives acting as nouns form a part of the subject.

Further using the above examples as objects:

• ‘He is a lover of the intelligent’.

• ‘She has an eye for the rich’,

• ‘He is a veteran amongst the young.’

The complete sentences could be:

• ‘He is a lover of the intelligent (being)’.

• ‘She has an eye for the rich (men) ’,

• ‘He is a veteran amongst the young (students).’

Remember:

1. The definite article ’the’ is combined with these adjectives so that they can be used as nouns.

2. These adjectives are always plural and take a plural verb.

Nouns Formed by Conversion

Adjectives can be used as proper nouns, common nouns, and abstract nouns. When a word is used as a different part of speech without introducing any change to the form of the original word it is known as conversion. Let us look at some examples:

• ‘The church elder frowned on kissing in the back of cars.’ (Noun)

• ‘The elder man used his cane.’ (Adjective)

• ‘He kept the fast for a week.’ (Noun)

• ‘Reena and Sheena are fast friends’ (Adjective)

• ‘This is my right!’ (Noun)

• ‘He is the right man for this position.’ (Adjective)

• ‘Mahatma Gandhi is his ideal.’ (Noun)

• ‘The ideal king is expected to be wise and generous.

The above sentences make it clear how the same word can be used as a different part of speech.

Other Cases

Proper nouns like Indian, American, and African are words that can act as adjectives as well as nouns. It totally depends on the usage of the word that is whether it is in the plural form or the singular form. If the word is in the plural form it is acting as a noun and in the singular form it could be acting as an adjective or a noun.

Let us look at some examples:

• 'The Indian brass work is popular in the west.' (Adjective)

• 'The Indians are going for elections.' (Noun)

• 'The African nations are taking cogent steps to fight apartheid'. (Adjective)

• 'The Africans are hardworking people'. (Noun)

• 'The American tourist visited the museum.' (Adjective)

• 'The American shopped in the market.' (Noun)

Words like Indian and African have been used in the sense of ‘of India, of Africa. Remember, that once again the usage of the word determines that what part or speech the word belongs to.