Timeline for "This is an interesting-looking book."
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
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| Jul 9, 2016 at 16:05 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I'm giving a simplistic answer, ducking the issues of classifying a given candidate as noun phrase or open compound, and, for compounds, analysis of how they arose. Some compounds will have been formed in set ways (eg Adj + Ing-form, as you indicate), but now may be more simply classed as single words / lexemes (good-looking = handsome, looking glass = mirror etc). Your answer addresses the actual compounding mechanism in certain cases. It redefines OP's question, but I think that is at least as valid. | |
| Jul 9, 2016 at 14:34 | comment | added | Dunsanist | Yes, but there you are deliberately scrambling grammar to avoid meaning. Then you can defend yourself…'I didn't mean that!' Because what you said didn't mean anything. It's a common tactic for politicians, spouses, and other people with a lot to lose by actually expressing things clearly. | |
| Jul 9, 2016 at 14:19 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | You wouldn’t usually say it, just like you wouldn’t usually say, “The man looks”—but given the right context, you could. For example, imagine your significant other cooks something that looks like the contents of a toilet dumped into a bog. You want to be kind and say something nice, but you can’t bring yourself to actually complement it. If you were a character on a tv show, you might then say something like, “Oh… that looks… I mean, it looks very… yeah. That’s a very… looking dish you’ve made.” (That also uses the same look, the linking verb, rather than the look at one.) | |
| Jul 9, 2016 at 14:13 | comment | added | Dunsanist | Oh, and one other thing…you usually wouldn't say 'the looking man', but 'the man looking' is fine. Why? ('The man looking had grey hair.') Aren't they both participles? Normally the participle only goes after the noun if the participle has a whole phrase--"The man looking in the window had grey hair". Then again, you could also say 'the dog running is mine'. | |
| Jul 9, 2016 at 14:05 | comment | added | Dunsanist | By the way, since you mention German, I know that huge compound constructions are possible in German. Are they restricted to nouns, or can they be modifiers of various kinds as well? Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften.<<Joy! | |
| Jul 9, 2016 at 13:48 | comment | added | Dunsanist | Are you sure this answer wouldn't be more appropriate on ELL? (Heavy sarcasm intended, but not to you. I'm just sick of people throwing their weight around on this site.) I read Edwin Ashworth's answer as covering how compounds behave, and yours as covering why it has to be 'interesting-looking' not 'a looks-interesting book'. I wish I could mark them together as a compound answer. :-) | |
| Jul 8, 2016 at 20:30 | history | edited | Janus Bahs Jacquet | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 302 characters in body
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| Jul 8, 2016 at 20:22 | history | answered | Janus Bahs Jacquet | CC BY-SA 3.0 |