I read a new collocation cough trouble which I could not found in any dictionary.
How can I form a noun + noun collocation?
-
The style of English used in newspaper headlines is famous for combining nouns without other parts of speech. It can be very distinctive. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlinese and languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/index.php?s=%22noun+pile%22– bdslCommented Dec 9, 2015 at 17:19
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
The phrase you're looking for is noun adjunct or adjectival noun. In English, we can use a noun like an adjective to modify another noun. The second noun is the thing itself - in this case, trouble. The first noun, the one that works like an adjective, tells us what kind of thing it is - in this case, cough, so it is trouble regarding a cough or trouble about a cough.
This is very common in English. For example,
apple tree - a tree, of the type "apple"
car door - a door, which belongs to a car
horse race - a race, of horses
race horse - a horse, for the purpose of racing
References on noun adjuncts:
Grammar in Use: Noun Adjuncts
Noun Adjuncts (noun + noun)
Noun as Adjective
