Here’s an excerpt from a conversation that I had with two English-language learners last week:
Student A : Teacher, do I say sport magazine or sports magazine?
Elaine: We say “sports magazine” – with an “s”.
Student B: See! I saw that.
Student A: But why? Why? It should be sport magazine. Adjectives before nouns are singular.
Elaine: Is it an adjective?
Student A: Look – it’s before the noun. Adjectives go there.
Elaine: Can a noun be used as an adjective?
Student A: What?!?
Student B: [ Blank Stare ]
The learner’s confusion hurt me perhaps more than it hurt her.
I have no doubt that this learner spent hours studying the meaning of a noun, where it should be placed in a sentence and what it represents. She spent just as much time grappling with the meaning of an adjective, its proper placement, its formation and its role as a modifier.
Now, I was asking her to unlearn what she learned. I was asking her to make an allowance that her mind was not prepared to make.
I’m sure she felt like she was banging her head against a brick wall.
I’ve been there.
But that’s another story … back to the grammar question.
How can a noun modify another noun and therefore be an adjective?
Confusing as this may seem, nouns can function as adjectives.
Think of something as simple as an “apple tree” or “heart surgery”.
Apple is a noun. Heart is a noun. Both modify other nouns.
In the examples here, both of these premodifiers are singular nouns.
But plural noun forms are acceptable, as well.
These nouns are called “plural attributive nouns”.
In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, Svartvik (1985), the authors refer to them as “irregular plurals in noun adjuncts”.
The learner’s “sports magazine” question falls into this category. Sports is a plural noun. It modifies another noun – magazine. Here are a few more examples of plural attributive nouns:
- Savings account
- Sales department
- Ladies room (no apostrophe)
- Women leaders
- Jobs program
- Customs officer
- Corrections officer
- Arms race
- Clothes dryer
- Telecommunications company
- Arts degree
Let’s take a closer look at the last example on the list: Arts degree.
In this example, the “s” in arts changes the meaning of the type of certification that a student has earned.
An “Arts Degree” means a degree in the humanities or liberal arts. The term, “(the) Arts” is a noun. It refers to literature, dance, theatre, film, photography, music and visual arts.
An “Art Degree” refers to a degree in Fine Art. This means painting, sculpture, drawing, pottery. Art in this case is also an attributive noun, but it is singular.
So, what does all of this mean for our learning?
Well, think of it this way: the parts of speech in the English language are a bit like the rules that govern our lives – they are not always carved in stone.
Rules are rules, but we also make allowances in life.
We create a precise Christmas gift budget in November. Then, we get a bright idea and adjust the original figures by mid-December. We start out with a one-child rule; then, we have a change of heart and two becomes a reality.
Why then, shouldn’t we think about allowances as a part of the language that we’re learning? Language is constantly evolving.
Creativity and flexibility need to be built into our learning habits.
Memorization will only make us less prepared to cope with little language surprises like “sports magazine”.
Thanks to the learners for their genuine desire to learn. You make a teacher proud!
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