Re: Grammar, Communication, & Flaming

["Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il>]

I suppose the abutting sibilants in "sardines sandwich"
distracted from the point, which nonetheless remains valid
throughout everyday English.  We don't pluralize adjectives,
so when nouns are acting as adjectives we don't normally
pluralize them either.  We say "flower garden," not "flowers
garden;" "stamp collection," not "stamps collection," etc. etc.

When we get into new or ambiguous areas, we may break the rule.
If I'm making a list of guests for my party, I call it a
guest list, happily observing the rule.  But if I'm writing
technical instructions and I mention a list of configurations,
I might think twice before using the phrase "configuration list".
That phrase might confuse the reader into wondering whether it
means a list of configurations or a list of things that a single
configuration involves.  I might go for "configurations list"
for the sake of clarity.

In short, David, I think you've mistaken the rule for the
exception and the exception for the rule.

Mark L. Levinson
Herzliya, Israel
nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il


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