Noun Adjuncts Complex Challenge

Question

hi guys
i have some questions that i hope someone will give me a full answer of .. i've been searching for over 3 days over the net .. so i'm too tired and confused ,,

Q1) we say book list , friend list , guest list , minister list or books list etc ??? i guess the answer is book list because book here is a noun adjunct and noun adjuncts can't be plurals except a few exceptions .. is that right?

Q2) we say new book list or new books list ?? i guess first example means a new list of books and the second example means a list of new books is that right? if so can we switch between both meanings?

Q3) - american president list or american presidents list
- academy awards winners list or academy awards winner list or academy award winner list (here i omitted the plural s in 'awards' also)

which is correct and explain it to me please (Grammar and Semantics)

if you answer me you'll help a tired guy down here .. many thanks in advance for your time reading this

regards
Joe The Man..

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

JosephHaddadQ1) we say book list , friend list , guest list , minister list or books list etc ??? i guess the answer is book list because book here is a noun adjunct and noun adjuncts can't be plurals except a few exceptions .. is that right?

That's right.

JosephHaddadQ2) we say new book list or new books list ?? i guess first example means a new list of books and the second example means a list of new books is that right?

Yes.

JosephHaddadif so can we switch between both meanings?

I don't even know what it means to switch both meanings. This doesn't make sense. An expression means what it means. You can't make it mean something different.

JosephHaddadQ3) - american president list or american presidents list
- academy awards winners list or academy awards winner list or academy award winner list (here i omitted the plural s in 'awards' also)
which is correct and explain it to me please

When the series of nouns gets too long, it's better to use an of-construction. a list of American presidents. a list of Academy Awards winners. I have no idea how I would phrase them as compound nouns - probably an American presidents list and an Academy Awards winners list. Maybe another forum member will have a different opinion on this.
___________________

I can't help but notice that you are studying some very advanced concepts in grammar, and yet you have not even mastered the basic elements of writing yet. You don't use any capital letters and very little punctuation. Even students in their first month of studying English can do these things. I'm amazed that you know what a noun adjunct is but not that Iis always capitalized.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

1. "Guest list" is the only one that is usable here - this is very frequently used in English. "Book list," by itself, is ambiguous. If you're going to talk about a list of books, you're going to need to be specific, as in, "list of best sellers." "Friend list" is not appropriate. Friends are special people, and the word "list" is by nature a cold word; the two do not go together.

Same with "minister list." Ministers are special people, and they do not go together with a cold word like "list."

"Books list" is a phrase that is not used in English.

You need to be careful when using the word list, because of its cold nature. In general you would not pair it with many words (some examples that are used: guest list, list of things to do). And when you do, it is often in an ominous or unpleasant context: The List of Adrian Messenger, list of people to do away with, etc. (In suspense movies, the first thing a villain does is make a list of bad things to do or people to bump off.)

2. Neither of these would be used, again, because of the negative nature of the word "list." In a bookstore you'd see a sign that says "New releases," for books newly published.

3. None of these would be used because of the negative nature of "list."

Noun Adjuncts Complex Challenge

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions