Births registration

Question

I found in some government websites (mostly UK and commonwealth countries) the term "Births registration".  Is this grammatically correct?  Shouldn't it be singular when a noun is used as an adjective?

Cbsteh · Accepted Answer

"births registration" means "registration of births"
Chris

Pter · Answer

Thanks, Chris.  I know what it means.  The question is "births" is used as an adjective in "births registration" while it is a noun in "registration of births".  If I remember correctly, there is a grammar rule that says the singular form should be used when a noun is used as an adjective.  I am not sure if there are exceptions to this rule.

Liveinjapan · Answer

I don't know whether your example is one of the exceptions.
I've learned there are a number of exceptions:

savings account / customes officer / clothes shop / arts festival etc. (from my grammar book)

Just wait for teachers

Fandorin · Answer

Hi Pter. You're right. Maybe it should be this way "birth's registration", they just omitted the apostrophe. Let's wait for natives.

Cbsteh · Answer

Though not a "native", I will try anyway:

If you can accept "registration of births" (plural of births), then why not "births registration"?

Chris

Pter · Answer

A toy shop is a shop that sells toys. We don't say "toys shop".
We say "registration of Internet domain names" but "Internet domain name registration". Similarly, it is "registration of trademarks" but "trademark registration".
When I google for "noun as adjective", I can find some examples of plural nouns as adjectives, including clothes, sports, customs, accounts and arms. Note that those words are normally used in the plural form.
However, when I was trying to find some examples of "births" (the plural form) from dictionaries, I couldn't find any. Obviously, "birth" is not normally used in the plural form. The only situation that I can find is in statistics. For example, the number of births and deaths. I wonder if "births registration" is related to statistics and so the plural form is also correct.
Another observation is that "birth registration" is used in US government websites. I am puzzled by what I found.

Pter · Answer

Nobody knows?   Yet another peculiarity of the English language that no one can explain?

Births registration

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