one

[navi tasan]

Can one say:
1-The good one is coming.
meaning:
1a-The good person is coming.

Can one say:
2-The good ones are coming.
meaning:
2a-The good people are coming.

If there is to antecedent mention of persons or people. In other words, if "one" is used as a noun and is not replacing another noun that has been mentioned before.

In this case:
This is a bad book. The good one is over there.
for instance, "one" is a pronoun replacing "book".

That is not the case I have in mind.
But when we go to someone's house, we might ask:
3-Where is the little one?
meaning where is the child, without there having been question of a child before.

[Gillnetter]

Can one say:
1-The good one is coming.
meaning:
1a-The good person is coming. (No. This could have a number of meanings - the good bus is coming, the good day is coming, etc.)

Can one say:
2-The good ones are coming.
meaning:
2a-The good people are coming. (Same as above)

If there is to antecedent mention of persons or people. In other words, if "one" is used as a noun and is not replacing another noun that has been mentioned before.

In this case:
This is a bad book. The good one is over there.
for instance, "one" is a pronoun replacing "book". This is fine because there is adequate information about the subject - book.

That is not the case I have in mind.
But when we go to someone's house, we might ask:
3-Where is the little one?
meaning where is the child, without there having been question of a child before.No. This is similar to the first question. It has too many possible meanings - Where is the little car, for example.

Gil

[5jj]

I agree with Gil's response, except for the part about 'the little one'. Though many might find it annoying, "Where's the/my little one then?" especially if uttered in a sickly-sweet tone, would clearly refer to the child of the house - in a house where there was only one small child and no pets. With no context, I agree that we cannot use it to refer to a child.