The English Oracle

"Are they American?" or "Are they Americans?"

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Track title: Mysterious Puzzle

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Chapters
00:00 &Quot;Are They American?&Quot; Or &Quot;Are They Americans?&Quot;
00:14 Answer 1 Score 7
00:30 Accepted Answer Score 7
00:59 Answer 3 Score 0
01:14 Thank you

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Full question
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Tags
#differences #adjectives #questions #demonyms

#avk47



ANSWER 1

Score 7


Although the subject is they in both cases, Are they American? considers the group as a whole, whereas Are they Americans? considers the group as a collection of individuals.




ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 7


Both are correct and mean the same thing. The difference is that in

Are they American?

American is used as an adjective, while in

Are they Americans?

it is used as a noun in plural form. If there were only one person, the questions would become

Is he American?

and

Is he an American?




ANSWER 3

Score 0


  • The americans are lovely people (noun) As a noun, it has SINGULAR AND PLURAL.

They were born in USA, they are AMERICAN (adjective). Adjectives in English don't have PLURAL.