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I am new to English and this forum as well. You may have sensed it already.

Here is my question:

Can plural noun be followed by another plural noun?

As in the example:

Notifications settings

Is it correct phrase?

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1 Answer 1

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As to the general question you ask, yes, plural nouns can be followed immediately by another plural noun. Here is an example: "I gave each of my cousins presents."

However, your example "notifications settings" suggests you are really interested only in compound nouns, since that's what "notification setting" is. The main stress in this example is on "notification", which suggests it is a compound, since compound nouns typically have stress on the first part of the compound.

Pluralizing the first part of a compound sounds odd in current English, ?"notifications setting", though there are some archaic forms like this, e.g., "sergeants major". But in the last, the "-s" applies logically to the entire form "sergeant major".

I think your example "notifications settings" is marginal, not because of the two plural inflections, but because it is the first part of the compound that has an -s.

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  • Pluralizing "notifications" is not that odd if it is the term being used for a category of settings. There may be multiple types of notifications.
    – Hot Licks
    May 3, 2019 at 11:19
  • You are right that it is the -s that is the problem, not the plural per se. This is discussed on another question here if anyone can find it? It is accepted English grammar that women soldiers is OK but *girls soldiers is not. You can only put an -s on the first noun if it is absolutely essential for clarity, for example to distinguish the flats fire in Grenfell Tower from a fire that is flat (i.e. where the word could be misunderstood as an adjective). May 3, 2019 at 15:09

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