Timeline for Can/Should an adjective and an attributive noun be used to modify the same noun?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 2015 at 17:41 | comment | added | JEL | @GregLee, I suspect your thinking on this is clearer and more detailed than mine. It is always tough to prove a negative on the basis of empirical evidence, and in this case especially so. So the proof might have to be categorical (and most certainly would be logical). When I consider the question in those terms, your position starts to make sense to me. The complete sense--some final sense which may or may not exist--continues to elude me, perhaps because my thinking is muddled and incomplete about the precise grammaticality of nouns and adjectives. | |
| Aug 13, 2015 at 18:52 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | CGEL argues strongly for them, but the tests they advocate may not distinguish them from some peripheral adjectives. Where the free association ..... loose collocation ..... strong collocation ... open compound boundaries should be deemed to lie is highly contentious. | |
| Aug 13, 2015 at 18:26 | comment | added | Greg Lee | @JEL, I confess that I don't know how to prove that there are no "attributive nouns". I have seen a number of references to them, so I know some people believe in them, but I don't know why. I don't know of any grammatical evidence for their existence. | |
| Aug 13, 2015 at 18:07 | comment | added | JEL | I'm not sure in what frame of reference your claim that "grammatically, there is no such thing as an 'attributive noun'" applies, if any. The use of the term 'attributive noun' is common in a wide variety of grammars. For an example, one of many, see dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/d26.html. Your claim seems to be that the one true grammar does not admit attributive nouns, but rather compound nouns in their place. That's where I lose the frame of reference: what is the one true grammar that doesn't admit attributive nouns? Your 2nd paragraph is right on the button. | |
| Aug 13, 2015 at 17:38 | history | answered | Greg Lee | CC BY-SA 3.0 |