Brooke
What's the difference between using nouns as adjectives and using adjectives as adjectives?
Apr 2, 2023 1:30 AM
Answers · 8
1
It depends on the original basic function of the word. English has a wonderful power to combine nouns to create almost any kind of compound noun you want. "Space odyssey." At some time, someone just took the noun "space" and smashed it together with "odyssey" to essentially create a frase that acts as a single noun. In English, it is possible to coin new such noun frases at will, and people will interpret that however best makes sense to them. It's some kind of word wizardry. Do you see what I did there? As I understand, using an adjective as a noun is when you take a word that is basically an adjective, such as "rich", and put "the" in front of it. Thus you get something like "the rich", which refers to people who are rich collectively as a group.
April 2, 2023
"Adjective" and "noun" are descriptions of ways that a word can be used. They are not descriptions of words, although some words are used most commonly as one or the other. So your question cannot have an answer. If you use a word as an adjective then, in that instance, that is exactly what it is.
April 2, 2023
Interesting question. If I think about it, I would say: using a noun as an adjective may come across as more humorous, informal, crude/simple, or illustrative than using an adjective. But it's tricky because using a noun as an adjective in a lot of cases won't make sense. If you have any particular examples, please send them. "He is a man child" vs "He is a childlike man" The first is more humorous and more 'mean' than the second one. The adjective in this case is more purely descriptive. It's more crude, but it's also more descriptive. Also, we invert the word order in this case, with 'child' coming after 'man.' "He is a bear man" vs "He is a bearlike man." "Bearish" could be used in place of "bearlike" as an adjective. Same with this example...although we don't invert the word order, although you could say 'man bear.' 'Bearlike' is more plainly descriptive whereas calling someone a 'bear man' is more humorous or crude. Also, it can be less precise and based on context. If you said "He is a dog man" that could mean he is a man who likes dogs or it could mean he is a man that looks/acts like a dog. Whereas, saying he is a 'doggish' or 'doglike' man would describe his appearance or behavior more precisely.
April 2, 2023
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