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.
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What's a word for the shape of the space among the trees in a forest?
I'm writing a proposal that contrasts systems with two different geometries. I'm looking for a word or short phrase (preferably non-technical), that would describe one of the geometries, which is ...
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Is the usage of a hyphen in "ad hoc" acceptable? [closed]
I know that "ad hoc" is a Latin phrase and I've typically seen it used without a hyphen. However, many technical articles use a hyphen. For example:
Ad-hoc mode is useful for establishing a network ...
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Use of a hyphen with the word "based"
I'm checking a technical paper submission and came across the phrase
We propose spherical Gaussian based approximations to calculate this analytically.
and wondering if this needs a hyphen ...
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How should a multiple-word noun be punctuated within a compound adjective? [duplicate]
I would like to use a noun made of multiple words (like particle board, Mount Everest, or windscreen wiper) in a compound adjective with a hyphen. But I don't know how to hyphenate such a composition....
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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 ...
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What is the correct usage: In the morning of ... vs. On the morning of ...? [closed]
In the morning of 19 April 2016, Taliban militants attacked a security team.
Or
On the morning of 19 April 2016, Taliban militants attacked a security team .
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Fractions as phrasal (compound) adjectives
Is there a difference between a written-out fraction that serves as a noun:
He gave me one half of his sandwich.
and a written-out fraction serving as an adjective:
I gave her a one-half share ...
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article heading should be "Experiment setup" or "Experimental setup"?
My advisor insists on using a heading "Experimental Setup" in his science journal articles. I always cringed a little, thinking it should be "Experiment setup" instead. Now I am writing an article and ...
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How old is the practice of hyphenating compound adjectives?
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One at 1.3.230 Hotspur refers to Hal contemptuously as
that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales
At Internet Shakespeare Editions the “Modern” ...
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Adjectival step by step
When used as an adjective, is it step by step or step-by-step?
Example,
Thank you for this step by step guide.
or
Thank you for this step-by-step guide.
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What does "consequence-free chance" mean?
I read this sentence on TIME (Oct.23 2017),
Having announced that he will retire at the end of 2018, Corker, once a key Trump ally, could emerge as a leading check on some of the President’s worst ...
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"Dead simple.." vs. "Really simple.."
I'm writing copy for a new web application and I'm having some trouble with it.
On one headline I've written "It's dead simple ...", but while my client was reviewing it he asked if this is not too '...
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"Italy-based company" or "Italian-based company"
When referring to a company that is based in Italy, I am never sure which of the above is correct. Logically speaking, "Italy-based" seems the most appropriate (since the company is based in Italy, ...
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Is ‘suit-wearing’ an adjective sui generis?
I was interested to find the term, “Occupy Wall Street’s suit-wearing cousin” appearing in a May 31 New York Times article titled Facing down the Bankers.
It begins with the following line:
Dennis ...
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Is there a word or phrase to define several words linked by hyphens, such as in "a sit-back-and-wait-for-it attitude"
some more examples:
"And she gave me that aren't-I-just-gorgeous smile."
"The I-did-it-my-way approach."
"A from-this-day-forward-I-have-no-son scene."
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Word for a country that has enough water for drinking, crops, forests, etc
When we refer to a country facing an acute scarcity of water, we use the compound adjective 'water-stressed' for that country.
But what do you call a country that has enough water for drinking, crops,...
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Differences between "inasmuch as" vs "as much as" [closed]
Can anyone provide me with some examples illustrating the differences between mentioned adjectives. Is it possible to use them interchangeably on various occasions?
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Phrasal adjective before/after noun. US/UK usage split?
Over on ELL I was a bit surprised by a (competent) native speaker of American English saying Books hard to find can be expensive is to my AmE ear no less idiomatic than Hard-to-find books can be ...
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Irregular plurals in noun adjuncts
Several psycholinguists1,2 have observed that English speakers do not use regular plurals in compounds, even when the noun refers to more than one instance (dog-catcher, *dogs-catcher), but do use ...
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Is “purse-lipped mother-in-law” an established word representing for a woman who is censoriousness and nagging about everything?
I found an interesting phrase, “purse-lipped mother-in-law” in the following lines of the article titled “The newspaper that rules Britain,” which appeared in New Yorker magazine, April 2nd, 2012 ...
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spatio or spatial
Searching the Google scholar,
"spatio-temporal" returnn 778,000 hits,
"spatial-temporal" returns 798,000 hits,
"spatial-temporal scales" returns 3,620 hits,
"spatio-temporal scales" returns 13,...
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Is something "half price" or "half priced"?
When I walk into Shoppers Drug Mart the day after Easter and see cheap chocolate galore, should I announce it on my Facebook profile by writing it's "half price chocolate" or "half priced chocolate"? ...
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To hyphen or not: cat person-turned-dog person vs. cat person turned dog person
Would it be:
I'm a cat-person-turned-cat-and-dog-person.
I'm a cat person-turned-cat and dog person.
I'm a cat-person turned cat-and-dog person.
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"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 ...
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Should hyphenated compound words be permitted to break across lines?
When using a hyphenated compound word (i.e., a compound adjective, verb, or noun) in a document and the word splits across two lines due to it being at the end of a line, is it considered improper to ...
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How should one punctuate “upper right most”?
For upper right most, I’ve seen it written upper-right most, upper-right-most, and with no hyphens at all.
What makes the most sense to me is upper rightmost, but it’s hard to tell that upper right ...
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Which is correct, criterion- or criteria- in a compound adjective?
Which is correct "criterion-based analysis" or "criteria-based analysis?" I have seen "criterion-referenced testing" and also "criteria-based assessment." I understand "criteria" is the plural and I ...
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How are compound adjectives nominalised?
There are compound adjectives in which each word is inflected (as adjective). When they are nominalised, should each adjective be separately nominalised or only the ultimate word?
The concrete ...
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I threw a coin in a well that [was] or [is] in the forest [duplicate]
Which statement is correct and why?
I threw a coin in a well that was in the forest.
vs
I threw a coin in a well that is in the forest.
Also, is the "is/was" before "in the forest" called a ...
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10 Year Challenge
The hashtag 10yearchallenge is very trendy now, but the use of the compond adjective (10-year) makes it look like it's a challenge that spanned 10 years, however, it's the name of the challenge not an ...
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What is the type of an adjective "fed up"
Recently, I stumbled upon a phrase "fed up" in one sentence. On the first glance, I was thinking it should be a phrasal verb but it didn't correlate with the sentence meaning. I found out that it is ...
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Awkwardness around 'go live' phrase [closed]
Context: software company training documents.
We commonly use the phrase "go live" when talking about making a system operational. I'm fine with using it as two separate words, but it becomes awkward ...
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Can you put past participle adjectives in plural form?
My teacher said the word 'grownup' can become 'grownups' but if it's written as two separate words 'grown up' with no hyphen it changes into 'growns up'.
It doesn't sound right to me and I tried to ...
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Quote positioning on a long sarcastic-explanation phrase
In the following excerpt, would it be more correct to close the quotation after "pose"?
...and they stand in the ISO-standard "security man waiting for you to walk through the door so he can escort ...
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Hyphenating measurements [duplicate]
A construction that I have been seeing a lot lately that seems surprising to me is "The 8-foot-long bridge ...," with two hyphens.
It seems surprising to me (or maybe I'm just noticing it) that ...
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"Hardware-counter-based tools" or "hardware-counter based tools"? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Chainsaw-equipped or chainsaw equipped?
How to connect a word and a phrase with a hyphen?
"One-Day Only Promotion" or "One-Day-Only Promotion"
Which is ...
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“Church Catholic” versus “Catholic Church” is the first form acceptable?
I heard both expressions, but the first sounds more "creedal". Although, just the second is fine according to the English language norms. When is "Church Catholic" fine to be used? The Merriam Webster ...
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Different types of "pride"
At one point while browsing the internet I came across an article that had wonderful adjectives for the different types of pride one can feel. Unfortunately I didn't bookmark it, and I can't find it! ...
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"Social media post" or "social-media post"? [duplicate]
Should "social media" be spelled with a hyphen in the phrase "social media post"?
To me, the hyphen looks wrong, but I would like to be able to provide some grammatical rationale to explain why.
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Why "well-behaved" instead of "well-behaving"
According to the rules of compound adjectives, the Ving/Ved in "Adv-Ving/Ved" form depends on the original verb in a sentence. For example, "well-liked" comes from "somebody [who] is liked well." In ...
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Is it acceptable to italicize a compound descriptor instead of hyphenating it?
I'm having a disagreement about how to treat a compound descriptor like "This is one of those everyone-shut-up-and-go-away kind of days."
It has been claimed to me that this descriptor can just as ...
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What is the adjectival form of "black humo(u)r"?
If one were to describe a statement by referring to "black humour", how should he/she go about forming the adjectival form of the term?
"blackly humourous"
or
"black humourous"
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What is the correct usage of hyphens with ranges (as in "a 5 to 10 minute rest")?
I'm having issues with figuring out which is correct:
"The teacher told the students to take a 5 to 10 minute rest."
"The teacher told the students to take a 5-to-10 minute rest."
"The teacher told ...
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How to hyphenate a phrasal adjective: PCI-compliant
I have a phrase I use often in my work, but I'm not sure if I'm hyphenating it correctly. As it stands, I've been writing it like this: The PCI-compliant payment gateway...
I think PCI-compliant is a ...
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How to hyphenate "non self destructive"?
Non self-destructive
Non-self destructive
Non-self-destructive
Which one is correct?
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Preferred writing (adjective): ‘offshore’ or ‘off-shore’ [closed]
I wonder what the preferred writing is of ‘off-shore’/‘offshore’, as an adjective to, e.g., (wind) farm. From the answer given in the similar question about ‘off-road’/‘offroad’/‘off road’, I would ...
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Compound adjective + adjective + noun
I am having difficulty with this, or maybe my brain has just shutdown. Can you follow a compound adjective with another adjective and then the noun? Or does it always have to be adjective + compound ...
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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 ...
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Why do grammars claim that adjective+adjective is always a morphological compound and never a syntactic construction?
According to CGEL (and all other sources I looked at so far, such as Quirk et al. and Biber et al.), the following are morphological compounds, i.e. compound adjectives, and not syntactic composites ...
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Is there a name for somebody you’re jealous of?
I'm trying to describe King Saul's suicide out of fear of his rival David, of-whom-he-is-jealous. Is there a better way to describe this?
