1

This is what Jack Kerouac writes in On The Road:

A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.

I'm wondering if the construction "too-big world" is grammatically correct English, since I'm planning to use it in one of my songs (I'm a songwriter). Can somebody help me out?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    Are you asking whether it's grammatical to create hyphenated compound adjectives, or if the use of "too-big world" is natural English?
    – Andrew
    Commented Nov 19, 2017 at 23:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The term "too-big" is a hyphenated adjective. It is very common in English to lump a bunch of words together and construct a hyphenated single word out of them, especially as a modifier.

For example:

The five-year-old girl is following her grandmother.

This rock-hard cake is absolutely awful.

There are some beautiful-looking girls in our school.

Therefore it is grammatical to say "this too-big world". However, if you are asking if this expression sounds natural or common enough, that's another can of worms.

Improve this answer
2
  • I don’t really see the other can of worms. The five-year-old girl is following her too-frail grandmother – that sounds neither unnatural nor uncommon.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 9:00
  • 1
    @J.R. I added that because we don't usually allow hyphenated adverb+adjective combinations. E.g. you can't say "That is a beautifully-looking girl.*" But rather "That's a beautifully looking girl." "Too" is of course an adverb. There are cases where "too" is safe enough to be included in combinations. "All-too-" as in "That reflects an all-too-common goal." Or in combination with other words. E.g. "That is one too-tall-to-tango hombre." "Too-frail" invokes the Skinny Puppy song "Far Too Frail", which I would argue makes it uniquely more tongue-in-cheek.
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 21:44

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .