Questions tagged [compounds]
Questions about words that are created by combining two or more other words together.
1
vote
1answer
48 views
Mishearing something overheard
Consider the following situation:
A & B are having a conversation. C overhears it.
Either A or B says something C considers controversial.
C later speaks about this in private, but has misheard.
...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
Why is it gerontology and not geronology?
I hope this is the right place to ask this, if not please give a feedback.
According to the Wikipedia, the term gerontology is made up from two parts, geron and -logia, which mean respectively "old ...
2
votes
0answers
37 views
“Testbed” or “test bed”? [duplicate]
"A testbed is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies" (Wikipedia).
While Wikipedia seems to prefer "...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
“everywhere” vs. “anywhere” vs. “somewhere”
Which one is correct to use?
We usually stay home because it's more comfortable than go
everywhere/anywhere/somewhere
1
vote
2answers
40 views
Proper use of “forward out”
I want to use "Forward out" to indicate that no matter which port messages are sent out they always arrive at the same destination. Are the following sentences grammatically correct and serve the ...
3
votes
1answer
72 views
So there is no solid rule to form PLURAL COMPOUND NOUNS right? Why say “gumball machine” but “securities dealer”?
In the dictionary,
a security (FINANCE, STOCK MARKET): a financial investment such as a
bond or share that is traded on a financial market
a securities agreement/audit/dealer
a ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
In which grammatical number should the first word in a compound be? [duplicate]
I've recently caught myself spending too much time wondering about several off-sounding compounds I've come across, e.g. browsers list (as in, a list of browsers) and tasks queue (as in, a queue of ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
“-field” joining rule for compound words?
Is there a rule when to join a word with field and when to leave them as two separate words?
Examples:
I walked through a cornfield.
I walked through a maize field.
I walked through a ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
Dash after the prefix “non”
Is the hyphen that we often see in words such as "non-zero", "non-trivial", etc. optional?
In case the answer is negative, is there any rule of thumb on which one may rely in order to recall when ...
0
votes
1answer
20 views
Client and server side componets
I'm having a problem to refer to the components that are in both, the client-side and the server-side.
I started writing: "client and server-side components" (1)
I did that in order to avoid ...
1
vote
1answer
148 views
Is there a term for an equivocal compound e.g. “guinea pig”
"Sweetbread," "guinea pig," "shortbread" (a typical Scottish biscuit), "egg cream" (a carbonated drink), and "firefly" are all not what their two nouns claim.
A sweetbread is neither sweet nor ...
-1
votes
3answers
23 views
Term for entering a market with a lower pricing and simpler offer [business] [closed]
There is a term meant to describe the following situation, in business strategy:
Suppose there is a market with a few companies acting as a closed oligopoly, with only full-featured and very pricey ...
1
vote
0answers
35 views
What is the verb portion of a hyphenated/compound/multiword adjective or noun called?
For example, in the noun "victim-blaming", what is the "blaming" part called? Is it some special type of verb, or perhaps something else?
Words of this form can generally be made up and can still be ...
0
votes
1answer
61 views
Compound Adjectives: Usage after “is” / Usage with noun
I'm currently writing a text in which I have some object called a graph, which has the attribute of being planar in a special way, namely in the multi-level way. I'm pretty certain that I should call ...
2
votes
1answer
133 views
The use of “vicinity”
The noun "vicinity" is used with the preposition "in" before it and sometimes with "of" after it:
There are a few hotels in the vicinity.
There is a good shop in the vicinity of the station.
...
7
votes
7answers
1k views
I am a pansexual trans/gender-fluid person
There's a risk of me potentially offending someone but I am an outsider trying to get to grips with this terminology. Online, I read someone who identified themself as a
pansexual trans/gender-...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
sentence identification
What are these sentences ?
The moors, which were covered in heather, appeared mystical under the gray mist.
My favorite type of food is Japanese, especially sushi, I wish I knew how to make it myself
...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
Which is more correct: “two- or three-note riff” or “two-or-three-note riff”?
When I read "two- or three-note riff," I sense an emphasis on the riff containing two notes with an occasional third note; whereas, a two-or-three-note riff seems to mean either or.
Am I reading too ...
0
votes
0answers
31 views
Term for repetition of compound words with the same ending root
What is the formal literary term to describe two or more compound words with the same ending root?
For instance:
heartbeat and hoofbeat
In this example, the root "beat" is repeated. How is this ...
0
votes
2answers
82 views
Trade marks or trademarks?
What is the correct format to use when referring to trademarks in British English? Is "trademarks" generally preferable?
I've seen both used in different contexts, the UK GOV page uses "trade marks", ...
1
vote
2answers
125 views
Intelligent-intensive or Intelligence-intensive?
Which of the titular phrases is the most appropriate and correct to express a work or task that mainly relies on the intelligence of an entity?
Stats of matches from Google Books:
Intelligent-...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
Hyphen in compound word?
Better with or without hyphen?
Dollar-quotes
Use dollar-quoted strings to simplify!
Use dollar-quoting to simplify!
Does it matter whether the second part is another noun?
And does it make a ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
Why it is “Okun's Law” and “Philips Curve” rather than “Okun Law” and “Philips' Curve”? [duplicate]
How exactly do these kinds of compound words work?
"Okun's Law" and "Philips Curve" rather than "Okun Law" and "Philips' Curve"?
Is there any grammar book I can look for?
0
votes
0answers
58 views
Spelling multiplayer vs. multi-player [duplicate]
English adjectives tend to compound using hyphens (-), whereas nouns usually compound simply by putting two words together: “a mind-blowing sailboat”. Then why is there a “multiplayer game” and not “...
5
votes
3answers
106 views
Is there a word for confusing words like 'everyday' with phrases like 'every day'?
I see people confusing words that are compounded from two words with a phrase made from those words. This is easy to do, as they look and sound very similar:
For example:
"everyday", an adjective, ...
1
vote
0answers
42 views
Two-word verbs described with One-word nouns
I've noticed that certain (compound?) verbs are combined into one word when the process is used as a noun. It seems to generally be processes with a preposition in them. If the noun isn't combined ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
Why is the sentence “millennial-tinged”?
I recently came upon with a sentence:
In her office at Oxford University Press, Paton was drafting a brand new entry for the Oxford English Dictionary. Also in her in-tray when I visited were the ...
0
votes
0answers
51 views
Is “a-okay” acceptable in lowercase?
Interestingly, Merriam-Webster has an entry for "A-OK" but not for "A-okay."
Most other dictionaries I have referenced have an entry for "A-okay" including Oxford Living Dictionaries, dictionary.com,...
0
votes
0answers
95 views
Use singular or plural in lists of compound nouns like “the English and French teacher(s)”?
I have been wondering about whether to use singular or plural in lists of compound nouns where the second part of the compound noun is not repeated as in “the English and the French teacher” rather ...
0
votes
0answers
18 views
Spelling compound nouns [duplicate]
recently I have come across some nouns such as "candlelights", that is to say, they are a combination of two nouns and I do not know when to attach these kind of words with each other as in my IGCSE ...
1
vote
1answer
59 views
Hyphenation in compounds with abbreviation remarks
So far I understood, that hyphenation should aid readability.
Examples [1, 2]:
North America-based company
A Gaussian mixture model-based approach
We propose spherical Gaussian-based ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
“Filepath” or “file path”? [closed]
A path, the general form of the name of a file or directory, specifies
a unique location in a file system.
"Filename" is a compound, but how about "filepath"/"file path"? "Filepath" seems incorrect ...
0
votes
1answer
3k views
“Try and get some rest” OR “Try to get some rest”? [duplicate]
Which sentence is grammatically correct?
Try and get some rest
(or)
Try to get some rest
1
vote
3answers
204 views
How to correctly hyphenate a phrase with clarifying word in parenthesis
How do I correctly hyphenate this phrase:
using a client (browser) initiated session
using a client- (browser-) initiated session
using a client (browser)-initiated session
The session ...
-3
votes
1answer
57 views
preposition modifying compound object
"The ethical standard is to abstain from sexual intimacies with colleagues or with staff for whom you have supervisory, evaluative, or instructional responsibility."
Does the above sentence mean ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
What's the plural of “Confirmation of Entry”?
I've recently wondered about the plural of the expression "Confirmation of Entry". A "Confirmation of Entry" is a piece of paper that Cambridge Assessment English gives candidates who are going to ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
What does “spam-in-a-can crush” mean? [duplicate]
I am reading Charles Krauthammer's "Things that matter" and bumped into a sentence read as:
The airport, where that inspired flight attendant did what everyone who’s ever been in the spam-in-a-can ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
Feminine form of “god king/emperor”
I'm trying to figure out what the correct feminine forms of "god king" and "god emperor" are. Do I just replace "king" and "emperor" with their feminine equivalents (i.e. "god queen" and "god empress")...
3
votes
1answer
750 views
What are the two parts to a compound word?
I'm wondering what each word that compromise a compound word is called. For example, You would say:
"Life" is the first ____ in "lifetime". There are two ____s in "lifetime".
Is the answer I am ...
1
vote
1answer
193 views
Why is the noun “blacklist” (written without a space) in the dictionary, but not “whitelist”? [closed]
Checking Oxford Dictionaries Online, I find the noun blacklist, written as one word, and the noun white list, written as two. There is no black list defined as a compound written open, and there is no ...
1
vote
0answers
96 views
How to avoid ambiguity and convey specific meaning in compound names ? (name + name)
There are already other questions regarding compound names (noun + noun) and now I better understand the general rule, which seems to be, unless dealing with an exception, to only make plural one of ...
2
votes
1answer
543 views
Somewhere, somewhat, somehow, some…day? [duplicate]
While talking to myself the other day, I noticed something odd.
We have the five W words and the H:
What
When
Where
Who
Why
How
I've heard three of these words said with "some" at the start:
...
0
votes
0answers
223 views
Can “Executive Decision” be considered a complex word?
My professor assigned a definition essay and requested a complex word. I chose 'executive decision' because I used the term in a previous essay and she marked it as unclear and wrote "what does that ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Presidents Elect or President-Elects?
If you have several presidents awaiting inauguration, should we refer to them as Presidents Elect or President-Elects?
0
votes
1answer
88 views
In a statistical model context, “overfitting” or “over fitting”? [closed]
I have been writing a research proposal. In a particular part of the proposal, I talk about statistical methods that will be used to avoid "overfitting." This is a statistical concept describing a ...
1
vote
1answer
24k views
“high school”, “highschool”, or “high-school” [closed]
In English usage, should one use high-school, high school, or highschool? (Assume American English; I understand that the Brits call it secondary school.)
0
votes
0answers
82 views
to belly dance as a compound verb
Is it totally correct to say 'Have you tried to belly dance?' instead of 'Have you tried belly dancing?'. In some dictionaries there is definition of 'belly dance' as an intransitive compound verb. ...
1
vote
1answer
452 views
Syntax of “two-letter word,” “five-mile run,” “three-hour play”?
Araucaria's answer to the following ELL question ("Why is “letter” not plural in “two letter words”?") brought up an interesting issue that I am still unsure about. What is the internal syntactic ...
0
votes
0answers
1k views
“dance lessons” vs. “dancing lessons”
Related: Is the word "Dance" a noun in "Dance Class"?
I just came across the phrase dance lessons and I was wondering why some people find it acceptable instead of dancing lessons....
0
votes
1answer
171 views
Learning to write compound words
I'm writing an academic text in American English. I'm not sure about the compound words:
DB-9 connector
end-of-packet
16-bit registers
Avalon-MM slave interface
RS-232 ...
