May 7, 2009: Issue 288
Most city and state names can also function as adjectives:
a Tennessee garden
my San Francisco cousins
Minnesota quilters
When you add a suffix, you create a noun for a person who lives there:
a Tennessean who gardens
the San Franciscans in my family
Minnesotans who quilt
Most names of countries, however, need a suffix or a change in form to serve as adjectives:
Chinese tradition
Swedish design
African cloth
Can you tell us why? We’ve searched for an explanation for these rules and can’t find one. Can you? Share it, and you could win a prize.
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