Compound noun or adjective?

[Sully317]

In the phrase “green office building,” green is clearly an adjective and building a noun. Office is ambiguous in that “office building” could be considered a compound noun or office could be yet another adjective describing building.

Which is correct and is there some rule of thumb to apply in cases like this?



-Sully

 

[CMBright]

My very first thought is does it matter?

While I don't know, I would consider office building and apartment building to be used together so often they are functionally compound nouns to set them apart from (any) building.

Since office green building would just look wrong, that implies that office is part of building in a way the adjective green is not. Which, to me, also implies it is a compound noun.

I look forward to finding out if I'm right or wrong on that point.

 

[Maryn]

I’d say office building is a compound noun. Unlike compound adjectives, they don’t need hyphenation for clarity or comprehension.

 

[Stytch]

I see a meme every so often about the unconscious way we order descriptive words in English, like ... "small shiny red ball" would sound funny as "shiny red small ball" ... but I can't find it.

Also, as far as hyphenated descriptions go, my favorite trick to think about is "small-business owner" which is correct because there are two words working together to modify the third word. Without the hyphen, you get an entrepreneur of diminutive stature.

 

[Maryn]

I don't know about the meme, but there's a definite order to adjectives in English: multiple adjectives are always ranked accordingly by opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose. So that ball could be a stupid big old round red Indian rubber ball, but not a rubber old stupid red Indian round big ball.

Native speakers know this without thinking and never make mistakes in order. Getting it wrong is fairly common for people learning English. The example used where I just now copied the list is that nobody says My Greek Fat Big Wedding.

 

[Sully317]

My very first thought is does it matter?

Obviously, mine is a gee-whiz question. I am working to improve my grammar chops, and one of the ways I do this is to occasionally look at a sentence and see if I explain how each word functions grammatically. This is one of those things that fell into the cracks, so I was curious.

 

[Maryn]

(I have a handout on compound adjectives that I use sometimes when I critique. I'll happily share it if you want it.)

 

[TellMeAStory]

Oooh, yes please!

 

[Sully317]

Please do.

 

[Maryn]

My pleasure. I may have shared this here before; I can't remember.

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
A compound adjective is formed when two (or more) words are used together to describe or modify a noun. They are hyphenated when they come before the noun, but not if they come after it unless needed for clarity.

TEMPORARY COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
A temporary compound adjective is formed when the two words together assume a different meaning than their separate meanings. Writers who form temporary compounds should generally hyphenate them when they are used as adjectives and appear before the noun. If the compound adjective appears after the noun, hyphenate only if it’s needed for clarity.

Examples of compound adjectives (all hyphenated because they are both temporary and come before the noun): hard-nosed boss, ill-fated voyage, mass-produced shoes, whacked-out psycho, thrown-together salad, up-to-the-minute news.

TO TEST...
Have you created a compound adjective, or just put two descriptive words together? To check, see if you can remove either word without making nonsense or changing the meaning of the remaining word. A tall frosty glass of beer still makes sense if either ‘tall’ or ‘frosty’ is removed, so it is not a compound. However, blue-ribbon pie requires both ‘blue’ and ‘ribbon’ and should therefore be hyphenated before the word ‘pie.’

Second example: Boston is about to elect its first non-white-male mayor versus Boston is about to elect its first non-white male mayor.

NOTE:
Some compound adjectives change meaning, depending on whether they're hyphenated: a fast-sailing ship/a fast sailing ship, or free-form sculpture/free form sculpture. A long-gone crazy weatherman is not the same as a long-gone-crazy weatherman. A black-robed judge is not a black robed judge, nor is a gay-rights activist a gay rights activist.

TEMPORARY COMPOUND NOUNS
A compound noun is formed when two (or more) words are used together to form a single concept. Such a combination is far more unusual than a compound adjective.

Generally when they’re created they tend to start as two words, become hyphenated as use becomes widespread, then finally joined into a single word by the time use is common, if indeed that happens.

Examples of compound nouns include tomorrow, motherf***er, speedboat, and textbook.

PERMANENT COMPOUNDS
When the compound is accepted into the general vocabulary of English and can (or should) be found in dictionaries, the trend in spelling has been away from hyphenating and toward spelling them "solid" or "closed" (i.e., as a single word). Examples of closed compound nouns: notebook, motorcycle, email, and bedroom. Examples of closed compound adjectives: underrated, halfhearted, midlife, and childproof.

Open compounds are combinations of words which constitute a single concept but are still spelled as separate words, often without a hyphen. Usually the only reason is that the words don't join well. Examples of open compounds are: stool pigeon, gun shot wound, and high school.

There are special rules for compounds using the words half, like, time, and adverbs ending in -ly, as well as special rules for colors. When in doubt, check the online version of Merriam Webster for current practices or their print dictionary if it's less than two years old.