1

I don't quite understand the part in bold from this long sentence.

The 65-year-old lawmaker, who recently had been encouraged by President Donald Trump to seek a third term, made the surprise announcement hours before a showdown vote in an Alabama Senate runoff in which the establishment favorite lost to firebrand Judge Roy Moore.

The source

|improve this question
  • What precisely is it you do not understand? – StoneyB Sep 27 '17 at 10:29
  • ok, what's "the establishment favorite" ? and also not sure 'lost to' – dan Sep 27 '17 at 10:34
  • 3
    The establishment favorite is the candidate favored by the establishment--the people in power. (In this case the establishment is the people who lead the national Republican party.) Sen. Strange lost, and to designates the candidate who won, Judge Moore. – StoneyB Sep 27 '17 at 10:37
  • Just mull it over. I would have understood it originally if it put as "the establishment's favorite" or "the favorite of the establishment". To me, establishment is not attributive, but possessive. It's just like saying "their favorite". Am I getting it right? Does "the establishment's favorite" or "the favorite of the establishment" sound ok? What would be the idiomatic usage? – dan Sep 27 '17 at 12:33
  • 1
    Nouns are often employed in attributive position to designate agents, patients or other semantic complements. In this context consider 'party favorite', 'Senate favorite', 'teen favorite' = the person favored by the party, by the Senate, by teens. – StoneyB Sep 27 '17 at 12:42
1

While you are correct that establishment's favorite seems more grammatical, in English it's not uncommon to create compound nouns by joining together two (or more) nouns:

ice cream

jelly bean

washing machine

and so on. Sometimes these are joined together (policeman) and sometimes kept separate (automobile dealership).

In general, you can assume the compound is whatever the final noun is, modified by the previous nouns. For example a "water distribution network" is a network (of pipes, pumps, valves, etc.) used to distribute water. In the same way the "establishment favorite" is the favored option of the established political party.

Again these kind of nouns are so common you probably don't even notice you're reading this on your computer screen while typing on your key-board while signals go back and forth over your network connection. You can even make up your own, once you get the hang of it.

|improve this answer
  • I got it. But, apparently, there are also some cases that you should use the form of 's or of, instead of attributive nouns. For example, Tom's book, you wouldn't say Tom book, would you? That said, there got to be some rules that define when should use as an attributive or possessive. That's why I was just curious if establishment's favorite is correct, because I've seen 'my favorite', 'their favorite' and maybe 'Tom's favorite'. Can we say 'Tom favorite' in this case? – dan Sep 27 '17 at 23:41
  • I can understand 'washing machine' makes sense, because that machine is used to wash sth. It should be an attributive, not possessive. The same thing for ice cream and jelly bean. – dan Sep 27 '17 at 23:47
  • @dan actually we do sometimes use proper nouns + novel/movie/etc, for example "I'm reading yet another Stephen King novel", or, "that's a Tom Cruise movie". In any language, past a certain point there are no "rules", only "conventions". – Andrew Sep 28 '17 at 0:32
  • In this case the convention is that the named person should be famous enough that the listener should know who they are and recognize their relationship to the noun. "That recipe is a Gordon Ramsay favorite" would be fine, but "That recipe is an Andrew favorite" sadly, would not. – Andrew Sep 28 '17 at 0:34
  • ok, then. I know language is all about idiomatic and conventions. That's why it's hard to learn as a second language. – dan Sep 28 '17 at 0:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.