noun as adjective/adjective order (strong language - beware)

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alexblack
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noun as adjective/adjective order (strong language - beware)

Post by alexblack »

I am a native spanish speaker and we usally use some nouns as adjectives, such as VIP. Which by definition is, of course, a noun. So the following question arises ...

If I want to describe sex,not just sex, but casual sex . In this sentence "casual" is the adjective, but I want to describe sex as being VIP, how do I do it? (in spanish using the word VIP is like giving certain status to some action, e.g: VIP dinner -cena VIP-., will describe a dinner with a certain kind of "status" ).
I am not sure if this trend happens to be part of english language - now that I think about it, people do say "VIP party", for example-.

is it "VIP casual sex" , "casual VIP sex", any of these or none of these.

I've read the article at : http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-adjective.htm

and tried to devise a table like one of those in the artlcle but I dont really see it, to me both versions seem fine.

I dont know if it helps but I want to make enfasis in "sex being VIP" not in "casual sex being VIP" or "sex being casual" . For this reason, I think the phrase "casual VIP sex" is more accurate than "VIP casual sex" but only if people can understand that the word VIP is being used as an adjective, otherwise it'll look like "casual vip" + "sex" .

Well, thank u very much for your time and help.

Warmest regards,

A.B
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Joe
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Re: noun as adjective/adjective order (strong language - bew

Post by Joe »

Yes, VIP is often understood as an adjective, as in your example "VIP party".

Regarding order, try to understand that each adjective qualifies the entire noun phrase that follows it, whether that is just a noun or an adjective + noun etc.

adjective (adjective noun)
adjective (adjective [adjective noun])
etc

So in your case:

casual VIP sex = VIP sex that is casual
casual (VIP sex)

VIP casual sex = casual sex that is VIP
VIP (casual sex)

I leave you to decide.
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alexblack
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Re: noun as adjective/adjective order (strong language - bew

Post by alexblack »

Hi Josef !!,

Thank you SO much for replying !, and, btw, awesome hat 8-) !!.

Well, to get this right and stop thinking about doing it wrong. As I understand from what you replied, both versions are "correct", right ?.

I like "casual VIP sex" more than "VIP casual sex" but I was affraid that people might confuse it as being "(casual VIP) sex" which does not make any sense.

Why I was so affraid ? well, because before asking here, I tried many online translation services (bing, google -both of which I read about being the bests-, and others) using spanish/english translation and they yielded "casual sex VIP" , and as I understand, this is completely wrong. Then I tried using the english sentence generated to translate it back to spanish and they yielded the phrase as I would say it in spanish. As you have probably figured out, I wasnt satiesfied with the results, so I posted here. Btw, I must say that in some combinations google translator and bing did yield "VIP casual sex"

So, I imagine you are American, would you be confused if I say/use "casual VIP sex" ?

Quoting myself :

" ... I dont know if it helps but I want to make enfasis in "sex being VIP" not in "casual sex being VIP" or "sex being casual" . For this reason, I think the phrase "casual VIP sex" is more accurate than "VIP casual sex" but only if people can understand that the word VIP is being used as an adjective, otherwise it'll look like "casual vip" + "sex" . "

And you said:

"...
So in your case:

casual VIP sex = VIP sex that is casual
casual (VIP sex)

VIP casual sex = casual sex that is VIP
VIP (casual sex)
.."

That's exactly what I've said, right ? Both of those are correct but the first form emphasizes what I am trying to emphasize, right? . You were completely clear, I'm just plain stupid.

Well, thank you again for replying.

P.S: For future references, Did I make the correct decision in posting this topic here ?

Best regards,

A.B
alexblack
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Re: noun as adjective/adjective order (strong language - bew

Post by alexblack »

Sorry, u are not American. tried to edit but couldnt.
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