Questions tagged [compound-adjectives]
A compound adjective is when two or more adjectives are combined to modify a noun. In many instances, such compounds are hyphenated.
243 questions
0
votes
1
answer
71
views
Off-ball/on-ball vs off-the-ball/on-the-ball. Which versions are correct as adjectives?
In football (soccer), the expression "on the ball" or "off the ball" is often used to indicate whether a player is possessing or not possessing the ball. It is also often used as ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
23
views
Hyphenating attributive adjectives and the 'is' of identity vs. the 'is' of predication
I have a good grasp on the rule about hyphenating compound adjectives when they're in the attributive position – 'off-white car', 'climate-controlled shoes', etc. But there are some cases where this ...
- 11
4
votes
3
answers
1k
views
"Highly skilled" or "high-skilled"?
I've seen multiple academic sources use these interchangeably — even one noting it's done consciously — but my inclination as a native speaker is (was?) that "highly skilled" is always ...
- 213
0
votes
1
answer
79
views
Stacked adjectives? [duplicate]
If I say adjectives in a row, where the first could apply to the second, such as "cute blonde girl" - does it imply that I think blonde is cute? If it doesn't, why not and how would this be ...
- 1
3
votes
0
answers
67
views
Why does the sequence of some types of adjectives differ?
I was reading a book, and a character calls another character "a gangly, little human". Now, if I were to use another adjective instead of little, say, tiny, I would have to say "a tiny,...
0
votes
0
answers
47
views
When to hyphenate an adjective composed of an adjective followed by a noun [duplicate]
I find that many apps highlight phrases like "high level", insisting an hyphenation. The highlighting is distracting. Based on this page and this page, the hyphenation is needed when ...
- 111
0
votes
3
answers
45
views
A service-oriented architecture–developed application vs An application developed with a service-oriented architecture
I know the following kind of transformation can be done to turn passive voice into active voice when there is an actor preceded by the preposition by:
An application developed by Microsoft should be ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
114
views
Hyphenation of compound adjective or quantifier when referring back to antecedent
Example: She ate one or more apples, and each apple of the one-or-more apples was either red or green.
In the example, if "one or more apples" is the antecedent, should the reference back (i....
- 29
0
votes
1
answer
52
views
Do we need to hyphenate the compund noun if it is given as an object complement? [duplicate]
I have a question about hyphenating compound nouns when they function as object complements. For instance, should entertainment oriented be hyphenated in below sentence?
Much of the radio programming ...
0
votes
3
answers
85
views
Which contexts warrant the use of prepositional phrases over stacked adjectives, and vice versa?
Are there good reasons to use, e.g., "customer relationship management solution" over "solution for customer relationship management"?
I understand that in certain contexts ...
- 105
0
votes
0
answers
35
views
Why "factor" is not plural in "two-factor authentication?" [duplicate]
In Information Technology, we often see something that looks like a compound adjective, pairing a number and a noum. Some examples are two-factor authentication, two-step verification and twelve-...
- 637
0
votes
0
answers
53
views
How should I punctuate a phrasal adjective with additional adjective before the noun?
I am trying to discover the correct hyphenation and/or comma placement for the following sentence relating to honey bees:
When she hatches out of her egg, she is placed into a royal jelly filled ...
1
vote
0
answers
88
views
Correct hyphenation in compound adjective
I want to rephrase
The costs they compute are weighted by time intervals.
by
They compute time interval-weighted costs.
The question is, what is the correct hyphenation?
time interval weighted
...
- 11
3
votes
1
answer
65
views
Citizenship name order
If I'm a dual citizenship holder, which one comes first? Is there an ordering to it?
For example, if I receive a Canadian citizenship and I hold an Italian citizenship, am I Italian-Canadian or ...
- 31
0
votes
2
answers
102
views
"health product industry" or "health-product industry"? [duplicate]
I would have written "health-product industry", but Googling makes "health product industry" seem more common. I thought that if we created a compound adjective ("health-...
- 87
0
votes
0
answers
64
views
What is the term for phrases that are compound adjectives, similar to "come-hither look", "high-school-teaching voice"? [duplicate]
I know the etymology, and although it's listed as a noun, merriam-webster tells me the definition, but I want to know the name of this sort of adjective.
Wiktionary has it grouped as English ...
- 1,042
0
votes
2
answers
646
views
Is Hyphen a must with compound adjectives? [duplicate]
I have following sentence on a product packaging as a tagline.
Easy to use kitchen tools to simplify your workload.
I've asked a few native speakers and they said, that "Easy to use" would ...
- 3
0
votes
2
answers
64
views
The opposite of requiring a critical mass, being able to bootstrap from ground?
I am looking for an adjective for my system. I try to define the property that the system can bootstrap without requiring a critical mass of adoption. Meaning it can start functioning from zero and ...
- 103
0
votes
1
answer
740
views
Is it a "Spanish-language movie" or a "Spanish language movie"?
As I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong): "Spanish" is a proper noun and therefore must be capitalized; "Spanish-language" in this case is a compound adjective and those ...
- 43
2
votes
0
answers
62
views
Relative reduced adjective phrase rephrased as Compound Adjective
Balloon filled with gas = gas-filled balloon
Infested with mosquito = mosquito-infested
Covered in/with snow = snow-covered
Necklace studded with diamonds = diamond studded
Deprived of sleep = sleep-...
- 21
15
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Is it correct to say 'a four doored car'?
If I describe a motor car as a 'four door car' I am making 'door' an adjective. It forms a compound adjective with the word 'four' and it adjectivally describes an attribute of the car, and is ...
- 24.9k
1
vote
0
answers
46
views
How does the noun cause the suffix of compound adjectives to change?
I'm comparing the names of bird species with similar compound adjectives. In some cases, the first word of the compound adjective changes with different nouns.
Some examples:
Silver-throated Tanager
...
- 111
0
votes
0
answers
137
views
A four- or five-time(s)-a-year indulgence
Page 693 of Garner's Modern English reads
When two phrasal adjectives have a common element at the end, and this
ending portion appears only with the second phrase, insert a
suspensive hyphen after ...
- 2,690
0
votes
0
answers
72
views
Repetition of "one" as number and pronoun
I am wondering about repetitions related to the use of the word one as a pronoun and as a number inside an adjectival compound.
Here are two examples:
My friend ordered a two-scoop cone, while a got ...
user410947
0
votes
0
answers
80
views
'Extra-high-voltage grid' or 'extra-high voltage grid'?
I've seen both used interchangeably, and can't decide which is best. Given that both adjectives modify the noun, should two hyphens not be used? Thanks!
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
947
views
Synonym of "less formal"
As casual conversation simply means an idle chatter, I wanted to know of a word which means a "formal talk". Not completely formal, but rather a word for a conversation where people talk ...
- 3
1
vote
1
answer
243
views
Why do we use "at" in the phrase "good at [doing]"
In English, why do we use "at" in phrases such as "good at [doing something]", "terrible at [doing something]", etc.?
I'm trying to think of an example of how "at&...
- 257
0
votes
2
answers
153
views
Was this subject complement diagrammed correctly?
The sentence is the following. I'm focusing on the part in bold:
Feeding the goats is messy and time consuming.
It's in this book.
The author provides the following diagram:
And I think it should ...
- 37
0
votes
1
answer
49
views
Does "easily-going" exist?
I'm studying English compound word patterns and "easily-going" is mentioned as an example of a compound adjective formed by an ADVERB + PRESENT PARTICIPLE. But it sounds too odd to me. I've ...
- 319
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
How to hyphenate “small-gap short-period long devices”?
I would like to use a compound adjective for the word "devices", but I don't know how to place the hyphen. Does small-gap short-period long devices sound correct?
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
85
views
Could someone deconstruct this sentence and explain where it is right or wrong grammatically?
The sentence is:
I'm of the fuck covid opinion.
A friend of mine stated it and I would like to know if someone could explain why it should or should not be written differently.
user412429
1
vote
1
answer
118
views
Can a compound modifier include a verb or be a sentence?
Recently, my significant other and I were sharing our reactions to an image of someone who looked much older than they actually were on social media. We were texting each other.
I captioned the ...
- 279
0
votes
1
answer
90
views
Should a two-word noun that modifies be hyphenated?
I came across the sentence "He is Fibonacci spiral attractive," and my first thought was that "Fibonacci spiral" should be hyphenated. I consulted my sister, and she thought it ...
- 1
1
vote
0
answers
110
views
Compound modifier with adverb [duplicate]
In the phrase "highly trained support specialist" should a hyphen be used?
0
votes
1
answer
302
views
“Half an hour” and “half hour” adverbs
If the rate per hour is the hourly rate, what do you call the rate for half an hour? What is the rate for 2 hours known as?
- 103
0
votes
0
answers
272
views
what's the difference between "correctly-sized packet" vs. "correct-size packet."
The sentence is the following:
[...] It allows you to request transfers of any size. Internally, the
request will be divided up into correctly-sized packets. [...]
Sometimes I read adjectives ...
- 31
0
votes
1
answer
247
views
Hyphenate 3/4 word compound adjective
The phrase I don't know how to hyphenate is
asset type specific keywords and patterns
and the negated version
non asset type specific keywords and patterns.
I looked around and found this Q&A ...
- 1
1
vote
3
answers
1k
views
Phrasal verbs as hyphenated adjectives
So I recently had a question of how to translate a seemingly simple phrase which gave rise to a really puzzling dilemma. The phrase itself was "the eye which had been operated on", it was ...
- 156
0
votes
1
answer
34
views
Which one is a correct way to write: a) two functions problems, or b) two-function problems?
I am wondering which of the following are grammatically correct?
Example sentence:
a) We evaluate two-function problems in the example.
b) We evaluate two functions problems in the example.
If none of ...
- 105
0
votes
0
answers
358
views
Why is "more complicated" typically not hyphenated as a compound modifier when before a noun?
In the phrase "employees for more complicated work," shouldn't "more complicated" be hyphenated as it comes before the noun it describes?
After much searching online, I am yet to ...
0
votes
1
answer
46
views
Adjective word or phrase to mean "We built it for ourselves"
I'm having a bit of a block here. I'm trying to describe a piece of machinery. It doesn't exist anywhere else. We didn't build it, but we designed it to maximize our productivity. It only exists in ...
- 111
1
vote
0
answers
154
views
"Back to school" as an adjective or noun
What would be a good noun to call a person who deliberately, willfully makes a "back to school" trip to get a refresher on a subject (like geometry, calculus, biology)? Humorous nouns and ...
- 355
0
votes
2
answers
85
views
Adjectival forms composed with -like with a substantive or an adjective
I want to describe a process that, although not industrial, behaves closely to industrial processes. I have an hesitation between a description with "industrial-like process" or "...
- 3,384
1
vote
1
answer
315
views
Is it "multi-element" or "multi-elemental"? "Multi-attribute" or "multi-attributed"?
I've seen both being used, so I'm having a hard time telling which one is correct. Logic dictates that it's supposed to be "multi-elemental" and "multi-attributed," considering we ...
user398789
0
votes
1
answer
188
views
Is there a name for phrases like "faint of heart" or "fleet of foot"?
I've noticed that English seems to have a set of adjectival phrases like "faint of heart", "fleet of foot", "narrow of mind", or "strong of will" of the form {...
- 225
0
votes
1
answer
269
views
Two compound adjectives together [duplicate]
If we want to use compound adjectives like "result-oriented" and "client-oriented" together to describe a person, how do we use the hyphen?
A result and client-oriented person.
A ...
- 3
0
votes
0
answers
35
views
Noun + Past Participle Usage
DCR(Dark Current Rate) represents the base noise level of a SPAD caused by parasitic avalanches happening in the dark due to thermal noise and band-to-band tunnelling effects.
I don't understand why ...
1
vote
0
answers
4k
views
When to use hyphen before “themed”
I understand cases where the concept modifying “themed” is a noun:
“A Star Wars–themed party”
But when the theme is an adjective, which of the following would be correct?
“A spooky-themed party”
“A ...
- 37
1
vote
0
answers
1k
views
Any suggestions on how to romantically describe a woman's brown hair? [closed]
Does anyone know a heartfelt, romantic way to describe the brown hair of a woman/girl? For now, all I have is "silky brown hair," but it just doesn't flow in my poem. This is not official, ...
user386357
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
"Faster than" using with Future Simple
I'm just wondering if it is right to say that
I'll learn English faster than they will translate this book
=or
I'll learn English earlier than they will translate this book
I'm confused about ...
