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Hans51 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

"hot on the heels of"

Following hot on the heels of hikes in electricity and raw material prices, these increases are expected to occur over a wide range of fields.

"hot one the heels of" functions as an adjective here?

I know "He’s hot on the heels of a new career" is natural to use, but hot on the heel of as a chunk modifies nouns in front of them?

Thank you so much in advance.

In addition, hot on the heel of as a chunk modifies nouns in the front of / in front of them? Which one is correct?
  

Top answer

Hans51 "hot one the heels of" functions as an adjective here? No. It does not modify or change the meaning of the noun.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Hans51 "hot one the heels of" functions as an adjective here?
  • No.
  • It does not modify or change the meaning of the noun.
  • Compare with "a friend" and "a close friend".
  • "Close" makes the degree of friendship clearer.
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4 Answers
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Hans51"hot one the heels of" functions as an adjective here?
No. It does not modify or change the meaning of the noun.
Compare with "a friend" and "a close friend". "Close" makes the degree of friendship clearer.
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Thank you so much and do you mean Following hot on the heels of hikes is wrong, right?
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Hans51Thank you so much and do you mean Following hot on the heels of hikes is wrong, right?
It's not wrong at all. "hot on the heels of" is not an adjective.

The entire participial clause (some may argue it is a prepositional phrase) is a modifier:

Following hot on the heels of hikes in electricity and raw mat
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I would further stick my neck out and say that "hot on the heels of" is more of an adverbial idiom, meaning "closely."

This has the same meaning:
Closely following the hikes in electricity and raw material prices,....
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