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Severino Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Question about ‘adjectivized’ plural nouns

Hello everyone!

I was given a title for an article I have to write in English. It includes: ‘a review of body movements changes’.

Now, my question is: which is the most correct form between ‘body movement changes’ and ‘body movementS changes’? Can both be correct?

I’d like to learn more about English rules on this grammar structure but I don’t even know if ‘adjectivation of nouns’ is what I need to look for when checking out grammar books in the first place. If you could also help me understand what grammar category this question would fall into, I would pretty much appreciate!

Thank you a lot

  

Top answer

In the phrase "body movement(s) changes", the words "body" and "movement(s)" are attributive nouns, aka noun adjuncts. These are nouns that modify another noun somewhat in the manner of an adjective, though they are not considered true adjectives. In English there is a strong tendency to avoid plural attributive nouns, even when the underlying sense seems to be plural.

  • In the phrase "body movement(s) changes", the words "body" and "movement(s)" are attributive nouns, aka noun adjuncts.
  • These are nouns that modify another noun somewhat in the manner of an adjective, though they are not considered true adjectives.
  • In English there is a strong tendency to avoid plural attributive nouns, even when the underlying sense seems to be plural.
  • Thus you should say "body movement changes", even if multiple movements are under consideration.
  • Even with the pluralisation fixed, "body movement changes" does sound slightly unusual to me, as a phrase.
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2 Answers
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In the phrase "body movement(s) changes", the words "body" and "movement(s)" are attributive nouns, aka noun adjuncts. These are nouns that modify another noun somewhat in the manner of an adjective, though they are not considered true adjectives. In English there is a strong tendency to avoid plural attributive nouns, even when the underlying sense seems to be plural. Thus you should say "bod

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Here is a complete and thorough discussion on the subject:

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-attributive-noun-1689012

Giovanni MattielloNow, my question is: which is the most correct form between ‘body movement changes’ and ‘body movementS change

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