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I am aware that a designee is someone who is designated to do something, but I have seen some odd usage of the word designate because of its adjective form.

I would like to make sure I am using the word designate properly. For example it is proper to say:

He is a manager designate.

However it is not correct to say:

He is a designate.

Is that right?

The usage I question is the following:

Contact the Regional Manager or designate.

If the above is wrong (as I think it is) would either of the following be proper?

Contact the Regional Manager or their designee.

Contact the Regional Manager or Regional Manager designate. (This must be correct...)

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    As [Wikipedia]() says, a postpositive or postnominal adjective is an attributive adjective that is placed after the noun or pronoun that it modifies. Subcategory Names of posts, ranks, etc.: bishop emeritus, professor emeritus, attorney general, consul general, governor general, postmaster general, surgeon general, Astronomer Royal, Princess Royal, airman basic, minister plenipotentiary, minister-president, notary public, poet laureate, president-elect, prime minister-designate, prince regent, sergeant major, queen consort, prince consort,... May 24, 2016 at 17:33
  • Side note: It seems to me that the adjective and the noun designate are pronounced differently.
    – GEdgar
    May 24, 2016 at 17:42
  • Designate functions as a verb or a (postnominal) adjective. I've never seen a dictionary which claims that designate can function as a noun. That's why I'm looking for clarification on this point.
    – Yoshiyahu
    May 25, 2016 at 15:55
  • Just google or Ngram "or his designate". It's completely normal, although designee seems to be more common, which surprises me.
    – Phil Sweet
    Jun 11, 2017 at 17:18

1 Answer 1

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In this case, the word "designate" is being used as a noun. It is not being used as an adjective or verb.

For example we might write,

"The designate strode down the hallway" (Example 1)

Any English verb which ends in "ed", when written in the past-tense, can be used as a noun it you omit the "ed" suffix.

  • "The work stood upon the dias like some sort of Greek God." (Example 2A).

The word "work" is being used as a noun.

  • "The cook was leaning against the wall int he alley, and smoking a cigarette, while gazing wistfully at the setting sun. (2B).

  • we went for a long walk. (Example 2C)

  • "a kiss upon the cheek would have made her feel better; but such displays of affection were not allowed in public." (Example 2D)

  • a look into the tank would have made most people's stomaches turn, but Susan was not a squeamish woman. (Example 2E). The word "look" is being used as a noun, it as an adjective.

  • "Gonzalez did a good job on the car repair"(2F)

Likewise, "designate" can be used as a noun.

  • Bob badly wanted to become the new designate. (Example 3A)

  • Bob badly wanted to become the new Attorney General Designate (Example 3B)

Note than in the sentence, "1 + 2 = 3", it would incorrect to say that 1 is an adjective which modifies 2. It would also be incorrect to say that 2 is an adjective which modifies 1.

Likewise, in the phrase "manager designate" the words "manager" and "designate" have equal precedence.

In a syntax tree, parse tree, or other tree diagram, it would be poor practice to have "manager" be a child of "designate" or write "designate" as a child of "manager"

There is an invisible plus sign which gives us "manager + designate"

The phrase "manager designate" being used as if it was a noun.

I reccomend that you not always analyze English sentences one word at a time.

An entire phrase of two or more words can act as a noun or act as a verb.

Likewise "manager designate" can be assigned to one single node in a tree diagram. You can draw children underneath the node if you wish to further sub-divide things. There is a branch of mathematics which is somtimes useful in linguistics.

Example of tree diagrams

Tree diagrams are a powerful tool.

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