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I am currently translating some technical documentation into english and am quite unsure about the word order when refering to a specific product. Is there any rule clarifying this phenomenon or does one have to use his sense? If so, could you give me at least a hint? I would really like to sound natural in the released documentation and in my speech.

Let me lay a handful of examples to better demonstrate my concern.

  • Windows Operating system (Operating system Windows)
  • Task Force ALPHA (ALPHA Task Force)
  • President John F. Kennedy (John F. Kennedy president)
  • Galvanic separation of networks GOS-200, or GOS-200 Galvanic separation of networks?
  • "Look for a book Game of Thrones", or "Look for a Game of Thrones book"?

Note: I am aware of the question (and answers) concerning the river names. Please consider my question more general.

|improve this question
  • It depends. There are a bunch of rules, for example book and movie titles go after "book" or "movie". But the rules won't cover all cases. Sometimes you have to use sense. For example, "Galvanic separation of networks GOS-200" sounds like the networks are GOS-200, not the separation. So that's the wrong order in that case, and "the GOS-200 galvanic separation of networks" is much better. – Peter Shor Oct 24 at 13:22
  • And there is nothing wrong with "John F. Kennedy, president", if you put a comma after his name. – Peter Shor Oct 24 at 13:27
  • That's a very specific case of titles. – Barmar Oct 25 at 19:47
  • @PeterShor, could you please point me to the rules you mentioned? – neonxc Nov 4 at 13:00

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