does a noun phrase followed by a prepositional phrase form another noun phrase? Example: The road to hell ‘The road’ and ‘hell’ form two separate noun phrases. Does, ‘The road to hell’ constitute as a noun phrase in its own right? if not why? What about something like, The road of power (i.e: using the … Read more
Can a pronoun be used in apposition without comma? A few of us students have participated in the match. This sentence looks quite awkward at first glance. Is this sentence gramatically correct? I can’t find any forbidding rule regarding a relation between pronoun and comma in apposition. Answer This is not actually a case of … Read more
I’m curious about the phrase “dearly beloved”. – It looks to me to be a phrase consisting of an adverb (dearly) modifying a noun (beloved). But I thought adverbs could only modify verbs or adjectives? So what am I missing here? What are the parts of speech of this phrase, and how do they go … Read more
I am working on CCG (combinatory categorial grammar), which assigns categories to words. So I was wondering if ‘leg’ is adjective, or just another noun in the phrase “skipping leg days”. Or is “leg day” a noun phrase by itself? I mean do they combine to become “leg days”, or “leg days” is already a … Read more
Abstract nouns, specifically nouns related to feelings, feel natural: Set A: His every {whim, desire, need, wish} should be satisfied by the council. However, concrete nouns feel wrong. Set B: His every {photograph, watch, “piece of jewelry”} was placed in the safety deposit box. Are the examples in “Set B” grammatically correct? If not, could … Read more
I have this sentence: John inadvertently broke the window of Mary’s car, which was bought just two weeks ago. Which meaning should I understand between “Mary’s car was bought two weeks ago” and “the window of Mary’s car was bought two weeks ago”? If the sentence means the former one, how can I make it … Read more
In a software I am building, there is a section of the user interface for setting preferences regarding how the content will be published. I see a lot of software applications using the phrase “Publish Settings”, but it sounds wrong to me as “publish” is a verb. “Publishing Settings” feels awkward. Would you have any … Read more
I have the following sentence: An uncommitted player reacts to different alliance types the same. I may as well say “…in the same way” but want to keep it short if possible. Is this a correct use of “same” as an adverb? I have checked several dictionaries. For example, the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & … Read more
This question, which I first posed on the ELL site a few weeks ago, remains effectively unanswered. Although there an answer did finally get posted, it seemed to be more of a parody of an answer than a real one, to me at least. So here goes; please consider this sentence: I can barely see … Read more
Does “a pretty egg box” always mean “a pretty box of eggs” rather than “a box of pretty eggs”? More precisely, is “adjective adjunct-noun head-noun” always interpreted as “adjective (adjunct-noun head-noun)” rather than “(adjective adjunct-noun) head-noun”? If so, can “a pretty egg box” be punctuated so as to mean “a box of pretty eggs”? Answer … Read more
