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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by darnisha1@sh.itjust.works to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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How is space an adjective in the first one? Shouldn't it be a noun?

These Anglo-Saxons again, putting random spaces into compound words.

I think it's because it's describing the noun.

It's not describing the noun, it's part of the noun.

Quick analogy in German:

space billionaire = Weltraummilliärdär

spacefaring billionaire = weltraumreisender Milliärdär

In German, adjective + noun cannot be written together to form a new noun. To form one, only noun + noun can be used. And English is close enough to Germanic languages for that rule to remain the same, I think.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You are correct. In English, when a noun is used to modify another noun (as an adjective does), it's referred to as a noun adjunct, attributive noun, or, more rarely, an adjectival noun (the last almost exclusively refers to a similar usage in Japanese). While it serves the purpose of an adjective, it's still technically a noun.

Examples are chicken soup, toy store, race car, and boat lane.

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

To be clear it's not about "spacefaring" billionaires but about "spacing" billionaires aka dumping them out an airlock into space as seen in various "The Expanse" scenes.

That's for the second one though, for the [verb] [noun] combination. The "[adjective]" [noun] combination implies spacefaring or similar, doesn't it?

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Nouns can be adjectives in Freedom Language™

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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