Dear Alan,
Would you please tell me to what part of speech do these words belong ?
work permit ; video game ; bike trailer...
Should they be listed under the category of:
a) compound nouns = 1 part of speech (does it exist ?)
b) noun (video; work; bike)
+ noun (game; permit; trailer) =
2 similar parts of speech
c) descriptive adjectives OR nouns functioning as adjectives ? (video; work; bike...)
+ nouns (permit; game; trailer) =
2 different parts of speech ?
Many thanks.
I wish you a merry Christmas.
Hela
part of speech of compound nouns
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Hela
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Alan
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Re: part of speech of compound nouns
'Compound noun' is not in itself a traditional form class, but nevertheless a widely used and understood syntactic label.
Depending on the level to which one wishes to functionally label sentence constituents, a compound such as work permit can be analysed as realizing the combination [ADJ + NOUN], since 'work' (although canonically a noun) is here serving as a modifier to a noun (permit).
Alternatively, the labels adnominal + nominal would be preferred by some grammarians.
Depending on the level to which one wishes to functionally label sentence constituents, a compound such as work permit can be analysed as realizing the combination [ADJ + NOUN], since 'work' (although canonically a noun) is here serving as a modifier to a noun (permit).
Alternatively, the labels adnominal + nominal would be preferred by some grammarians.