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I came upon this phrase in a Hilary Mantel's novel (Wolf Hall): "John Williamson is needed in the Cromwell business"

Why is the possessive form not being used for "Cromwell business".

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  • Why is the possessive form not being used?
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 17:51
  • Why would you expect a possessive form there? Cromwell is clearly a name, and names don’t normally take definite articles—that alone indicates that it can’t be a possessive construction.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 17:59

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"Cromwell" is probably being used as an attributive noun, not as a possessive.

In English grammar, an attributive noun is a noun that modifies another noun and functions as an adjective. Also known as a noun premodifier, a noun adjunct, and a converted adjective.

grammar.about.com

The noun can be a proper noun (i.e. a name), or a common noun (e.g. 'science' or 'computer').

Here are some other examples:

  • This Shakespeare stuff is tough!

  • I hate this science junk.

  • I'm a computer technician.

  • I'm in the computer business.

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    If the first nouns of such noun compounds really functioned as adjectives, they should display some adjectival behavior, like for instance being modifiable by an adverb. Some of them have the meaning of adjectives, such as those of your examples, but some don't.
    – Greg Lee
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 18:01
  • I assume the grammar.about.com article is using "functions as an adjective" in a loose and intuitive sense, not exactly the way a syntactician would use it.
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 18:03
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    The difference between attributive noun and prenominal adjective can become blurred. I think the juries are still out on 'steel bridge'. But even this has been mentioned here before.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 18:04
  • @GregLee Good observation. Or like having graded forms. Perhaps it's best to separate form from function. Attributive nouns are nouns, not adjectives, but they function in sentences as modifiers of nouns, a function they share with adjectives.
    – deadrat
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 19:02
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    @Silenus Haven't you heard? CGEL has a monopoly on metalanguage.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 22:22
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"Cromwell business" is not a possessive construction. It's a compound noun, made up of the two nouns "Cromwell" and "business". Compare it with the "Dreyfus affair" or our "Russia problem". One diagnostic of such compounds is the missing apostrophe s, which you note, but also, stress is typically on the first element. Compare "Cromwell business" with "Cromwell's business".

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  • No. 'Cromwell business' isn't even a collocation if one rules out 'Cromwell Business Directory', 'Cromwell Business Systems', 'Cromwell Business Park' etc. There are far too few hits to support such extensive usage. 'Goldfish bowl' may well qualify as a compound, but 'bismuth vase' is just a [very] free combination (in this case including an attributive noun).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 21:26
  • @EdwinAshworth Before there was Google to tell you what things could be collocated, you must have had serious difficulty communicating.
    – Greg Lee
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 21:35
  • It would be more helpful to other readers (and yourself) if you (1) checked up on what compounds, collocations, and free combinations are and then (2) corrected your answer.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 22:16
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    @EdwinAshworth, I confess that I didn't check. I don't accept your view of language as some sort of melange of memorized collocations. In this regard, I am a Chomskian, who regards language as a system with more structure than a set of memorized linkages of the sort Skinner proposed. I think you're wrong. But it is an interesting and fundamental point, and I am pleased that you're brought it up. We must talk sometime.
    – Greg Lee
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 22:24
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    Unlike 'peanut butter', 'post office', 'football' and 'teapot', 'Cromwell business' (or 'Ashworth / Baxter / Crabtree / Davis ... business' // 'Danish butter' / 'rancid butter') has not fused two words to make a new single lexeme. The latter are premodifier (whether adjective or noun) + head noun: two lexemes.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 8:20

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