In the phrase
Как такое могло случиться в Соединенных Штатах?
, why is the adjective такое being used as a noun?
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Sign up to join this communityThis is an example of nominalization.
It is what happens when a part of speech other than a noun starts to act as a noun in sentences.
In this particular case, такое is a collective adjective: a nominalized adjective which denotes a class or a group of things which share the property described by the adjective.
It is common both in Russian: мне идёт чёрное; не путай тёплое с мягким; подобное лечится подобным and in English: "Orange is the new black; eat fresh; think different".
In Russian, such adjectives are usually used in neuter singular.
Your phrase can be translated to English this way:
How could such happen in the United States?
which almost perfectly parallels the Russian construct.
"Как такое [происшествие] могло случиться в Соединённых Штатах?" The noun "событие" is dropped and should be inferred from the context. I this case "такое" is an adjective.
For example: "Какая машина нравится тебе? Мне - красная. А мне - синяя."
"Takoe" can be both an adjective and a pronoun. Here we have a pronoun "this" used as a subject. I.e. How could all this have happened in the USA?