Search results for 'tag:Nouns tag:Adjuncts' matching tags 'Nouns' and 'Adjuncts'

Re: One - When is it not ok?

CalifJim — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:39:54 GMT

Recall that * means ungrammatical.

_____

one is always countable.

*coarse sand and fine one; *white sugar and brown one; *fresh milk and spoiled one; *British English and American one; *good knowledge and bad one

But (countable):

a happy child and a sad one; happy children and sad ones; the happy child and the sad one; the happy children and the sad ones

a big shoe and a small one; big shoes and small ones; the big shoe and the small one; the big shoes and the small ones

_____

The indefinite determiner a, a possessive construction, or an adjective of quantity cannot be followed directly by one; however, an adjective may intervene.

this old one, this one, that new one, that one, the fast one, the warm one, the one, a gold one, *a one, my old one, *my one, Tom's old one, *Tom's one, many new ones, *many ones, several good ones, *several ones, three short ones, *three ones

(these ones, those ones in some varieties of English; *these ones, *those ones in others.)

_____

With an adjective modifier:

the tall statue and the short one

Father's big shoes and Mother's small ones

the English teacher and the French one

-- The teacher from England and the one from France

With an adjunct:

a book with red trim and (*a) one with blue trim

the chair in the living room and the one in the kitchen

the coat that Lucy bought and the one that she stole

With a noun modifier:

*the clothing store and the hardware one

*a science book and a Latin one

*Father's work shoes and Mother's dress ones

*the chemistry teacher and the physics one

*an elm tree and a maple one

*Kluckin'-Fresh eggs and Lay-Rite ones

*the English teacher and the French one.

-- *the teacher of English and the one of French.

With a complement:

*a way of speaking and one of singing

*the Indian form of English and the Latin American one of Spanish

*a good knowledge of linguistics and a passing one of philosophy

_____

I have used "and" to connect noun phrases above only for purposes of illustration. The grammaticality of these expressions remains the same even within other structures within sentences, for example,

The tall statue was more beautiful than the short one.

*We planted an elm tree, but not a maple one.

*They shopped at the clothing store in the morning and at the hardware one that afternoon.

Countable use of variable nouns

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:54:34 GMT

Which ones would you use? Are there sufficient ground for the use of countable noun usages for the words
"treatment" and "disucussion"? No explicit mentioning of the words seem to have occurred, yet two countable uses have been occurred, I think. Why?

treatment or treatments? Why?
1. I think we need to rely on the holistic approach to medical treatment and I think physical theraphy is an important part adjunct to drug treatments.

discussion or discussions? Why?
2. He entered the classroom and boldly argued for the benefits of physical theraphy. Daily he took students with him and held discussions with them.

Re: TO - preposition or infinitive

Scottsox — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:46:03 GMT

Merriam-Webster's 10th edition defines "to" with the infinitive under "preposition" (sense 8). I'm having trouble understanding why that would be, especially since prepositions are supposed to take substantives as objects. However, as a Greek teacher, I understand the infinitive as a "verbal noun," so that might legitimize "to" as a preposition in that context. Still, the infinitive is classified as a verb, but it is a verb as action or event, which makes the whole construction ("to see," "to touch," etc.) a "noun," and the "to" can't really be separated from it as a separate part of speech IMHO.

Scott Stocking
Adjunct Professor of Greek
Lincoln Christian College

Re: A preposition or an infinitive marker?

Scottsox — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:42:47 GMT

Re: Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Clive — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:23:43 GMT

Hi,
I will give you an example of the puzzle : at the University of Glasgow (not Glasgow University), you have a Faculty of Physical sciences (not Physical sciences Faculty), a Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences (not Geographical and Earth Sciences Department) I don't see anything wrong with the alternatives in brackets, although obviously they have not been chosen as the official names. If someone at the University used one of the bracketed terms in everyday conversation, I don't think anyone would think that sounded odd.

but a Human Geography Research Group (not a Research Group of Human Geography)... ' Yes, ' . . Group of . . .' does sound awkward. However, '. . . Group for . . ' sounds OK and is not uncommon.

I feel really that such things are just a matter of what is common usage. Some things we say, some things we don't say.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:52:19 GMT

Thank you for your answer! ("Unit" stands for a subgroup of a department, like a research group.)
I will give you an example of the puzzle : at the University of Glasgow (not Glasgow University), you have a Faculty of Physical sciences (not Physical sciences Faculty), a Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences (not Geographical and Earth Sciences Department) but a Human Geography Research Group (not a Research Group of Human Geography)...
Any comment ?

Re: Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Clive — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:09:27 GMT

Hi guys,
Here are a couple of comments..

I am also wondering a little about noun adjuncts for the moment regarding administrative or organisational bodies.
I guess that there is maybe no absolute answer but it seems that general use is accepted for some kind of bodies and not for others.
I mean that you say usually "department of physics" and not "physics department".I see nothing wrong with 'physics department'. In fact, my guess is that it would be the more common of the two, at least in speech.

It is the same for "university" or "institute".
What about "unit" ? Would you say "unit of physics" or "physics unit" ? 'Unit of physics' sounds extremely unnatural to me. I'd have some trouble understanding your meaning if I heard this.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:58:23 GMT

Maybe should we use "unit of physics" because it is a peculiar unit (only one unit of physics in a given university) ? By opposition to "research group" (and not "group of research") for example which is a general term (many research group can exist).

Re: Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:10:47 GMT

I am also wondering a little about noun adjuncts for the moment regarding administrative or organisational bodies.
I guess that there is maybe no absolute answer but it seems that general use is accepted for some kind of bodies and not for others.
I mean that you say usually "department of physics" and not "physics department". It is the same for "university" or "institute".
What about "unit" ? Would you say "unit of physics" or "physics unit" ?

Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:47:58 GMT

Are noun adjunct modifiers accepted in current English usage?

Noun adjunct modifiers which means modifiers such as "rotten" in "rotten apple taste".

Thanks.