What part of speech would you say is the word ‘dead’ in the idiom ‘in the dead of night’? Is it an adjective or a noun?
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Adjectives can often turn into nouns. Most obviously you find this in these examples - the rich, the poor, the wealthy - referring to people. The ‘dead’ of night turns adjective into noun referring to the darkest part of the night. And of course ‘dark’ also has a double life - A dark night - She’s afraid of the dark. Again - A cool breeze - She enjoyed the cool of the evening after the hot day.
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