Monosyllabic adjectives ending in 'y'

sionnach commented on the list monosyllabic-adjectives-ending-in-y

I assume that in such phrases as guy rope, fry cook, toy poodle, may pole, day student, although the initial word in each phrase takes the role of an adjective, it is still considered to be a noun.

Also, I had thought that goy could also be used as an adjective, but this appears not to be the case.

February 11, 2009

qroqqa commented on the list monosyllabic-adjectives-ending-in-y

In fact, in front of another noun is a normal place for an English noun to be: it's in a noun role, not an adjective role.

February 11, 2009

sionnach commented on the list monosyllabic-adjectives-ending-in-y

qroqqa

"In fact, in front of another noun is a normal place for an English noun to be"

This would imply that the sentence "following another noun is a normal place for an English noun to be" should be equally true.

But I don't understand why you say that, for example, 'day' in the phrase 'day student' is playing a noun role more than an adjective role. Isn't it telling us what kind of student is in question? I tend to think of it in this fashion:

advanced student

part-time student

adult student

day student

Here, 'advanced' is obviously an adjective, 'part-time' less obviously so, 'adult' could be argued either way as adjective or noun, 'day' is a noun. But aren't all four filling essentially similar roles, namely to tell us more about the kind of student we are dealing with? This seems like a closer description of the normal role of the adjective to me than it is of the role of a noun.

Not trying to be smart-alecky here; this is something that genuinely puzzles me.

February 11, 2009

bilby commented on the list monosyllabic-adjectives-ending-in-y

day student is a nominal phrase, consisting of a modifier (day) and a head (student). The modifier slot may be filled by either adjectives or nouns.

February 11, 2009