Questions tagged [nouns]
A noun is a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify people, places, or things, or to name a particular one of those.
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What is the noun derived from “to compromise (a computer system)”, or the correct expression for this fact?
In information security, in order to express the fact that a system was successfully attacked and taken over, one usually uses the verb compromised
The system was compromised after a successful ...
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29 views
back in Boston on a visit to
What's the difference between the following two sentences?
Sam is back in Boston on a visit to his uncle.
Sam is back in Boston to visit his uncle.
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1answer
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Street smart: modify adjectives with nouns?
I was confused by the roles of nouns in English. It seems that nouns can modify verbs as stated in this qeustion and adjectives in this example:
Do You Know How to Be Street Smart?
Source: https://...
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Can a noun or word have more than one case?
Can a noun or word have more than one case?
I was thinking the phrase "you look like a spider climbing up the stairs" before I thought that within that phrase or sentence, "spider" ...
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When MUST we use noun phrase + adjective , not adjective + noun?
I always catch my students using adj + noun even when it's not suitable but I don't know how to explain why we can't always do that and what the rule is.
For example:
Mental health issue people need ...
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1answer
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Can I join an arbitrary number of nouns to make them act like adjectives?
I always thought that I can join as many nouns as I want together and in fact make all of them play the role of adjectives except the last one. But the other day I was told that there is no such rule. ...
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Use of “the” in “the long-term consequences of climate change” (use of “the” in “the noun of noun”) [duplicate]
I'm not sure if "the" before "long-term consequences of climate change" (and in similar cases of "the noun of noun") is necessary or optional. My instinct tells me I ...
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Shall I use an article before the word "soul”?
"soul" is not a countable noun, but I have saw some using for this word?
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Is the sentence “George's inviting her should please Mary” correct? [duplicate]
As far as I know, this sentence should be George's invitation should please Mary. But in an English book, I am recently studying it is stated in that form. Is it grammatically accurate?
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Is it a 'noun' or 'Adverb of place'?
"The boy went to his house."
Is 'house' from the above sentence a 'noun' or 'Adverb of place' ?
I know the word 'house' is noun but the definition of adverb of place is to answer the ...
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1answer
28 views
Doubts on the usage of the pronoun *which*
I have a few questions about the use of the pronoun which.
In the sentence:
A statistical model is a family of probability distributions of a random variable which is smoothly parametrized by a ...
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Can't figure out the usage of 'of'
dappled sunlight had danced in Soraya’s eyes, and of the delicate hollows above her collarbone.
Here why have we used the word 'of' before 'delicate hollows' instead of using 'on the delicate hollows'...
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“ I thought I was the Glob of rap ” What is the meaning of “glob” in this time?
I saw this word in "Adventure Time" cartoon series.
Another instance of using this word --> "oh my glob"
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1answer
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What is the agent noun for verbs ending in -y?
What is the correct way of spelling it, and what would the rule be for -y verbs like retry.
Is it retryer or retrier?
That is, on -y verbs, is the y kept or substituted by i?
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How is it called to the one that anonymizes?
I cannot found this online. That one that anonymizes is an anonymator, an anonymizator or anything else?
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Is 'I'm' a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb? [closed]
I am currently doing my online work, and I was sorting verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. I was doing well, until 'I'm' came up. I would really appreciate it if someone could answer my question, is ...
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A fence of steel or iron bars - does it have a name?
I need a word or words for fences which invoke a feeling of 'looking through bars'.
Take a popular type of fence around properties: typically black, spear-like bars with pointy tops, with a couple of ...
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4answers
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What is a good noun to refer to somebody who is unhappy?
What nouns can be used to refer to somebody who is unhappy and would complete the following sentence?
the ... lost his wife and his job
The unhappy? The unfortunate? Or is it the unhappy one or the ...
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Why do we use the indefinite article “a” with the nouns “wind” & “breeze”?
Consider these examples:
There’s a wind blowing through here tonight.
A wind is a current of air that is moving across the earth's surface.
Open the doors, I want to get a breeze.
Why do we use the ...
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0answers
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What's the adjective of the word “use”
If I want to say "popular" about the cars.
Cars were more (popular) than now days
In the sense that they were used a lot, what's the adjective I should use?
Not popular, but... (adjective ...
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2answers
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I had a kind of feeling this might happen. (what is object?)
I had a kind of feeling this might happen.
a kind
feeling
[a kind]noun of [feeling this might happen]noun phrase
I wonder which object is correct.
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1answer
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How Gerund affects subject verb agreement?
Eating sweets __________ (is/ are ) tough.
Contesting elections ______ ( is / are ) tough .
[ Which one is the subject Eating/ Contesting or sweets / elections ?]
According to Cambridge Grammar of ...
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“Backyard” vs “Front yard” - same but different
Not really a serious English question, more like a curiosity.
I am wondering, why "backyard" is written as one word but "front yard" is written as two separate words. Equivalently, ...
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2answers
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Is a word by default a verb or noun, or does it not work like that?
How does one determine if a word is a noun or verb, and do words have a default state?
Or does it all depend on how the word is engaged with?
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1answer
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What is your favorite color of (a) t-shirt?
Is it true that this is correct?
1 What is your favorite colour of t-shirt?
and this is wrong
2 What is your favorite colour of a t-shirt?
If the answer is yes, can you explain the phenomenon in ...
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Is the subject complement a noun or an adjective here?
It's well-known that a subject complement can be a noun or an adjective. It's not hard to make out what part of speech the subject complement belongs to— For example, in He is a pilot and She is ...
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The killing of civilians / the killings of civilians; the death of a million / the deaths of a million
Consider these examples:
(A) the killing of civilians.
(B) the killings of civilians.
(C) the death of a million.
(D) the deaths of a million.
Is the 'killing' in (A) a gerund? And is 'killing(s)' ...
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2answers
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Capitalization of nouns which are proper nouns!
Artificial Intelligence - AI. It is now a proper noun.
The sentence goes like -
"Artificial Intelligence can make better prediction of cholera outbreaks."
The capital letters 'A' and 'I' ...
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1answer
43 views
Beginner's mind vs. a beginner's mind
I have encountered the following sentence:
It’s important to maintain beginner’s mind and openness as much as
possible.
What does "beginner's mind" represent? Mind of a beginner (without ...
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2answers
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The combination of two nouns
I have been always having trouble with the order of nouns when I want to indicate that one describes the other.
For example, suppose I want to discuss a feature of a system named SNR (Signal-to-Noise ...
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8answers
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Is it 'oils' or 'oil'?
In this sentence, is oil allowed (mass noun) or should it be oils?
Hurry and get your hands on any of our premium Shell engine oil/oils and get a free cleaner at a great price!
(This sentence would ...
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Noun form of “free of something”?
I'm trying to rewrite the following sentence into another form:
Client requires that the software run with high performance and be bug-free.
My rewrite looks like this:
Client has strong demand for ...
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Can I refer to those certificates as Qualification certificates?
I have qualified some exams. Now I need to send those certificate to a recruiter. Can I refer to those certificates as Qualification certificates?
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How would you say a “pila” (Spanish) for water in English?
I am translating a story from El Salvador. In this country, there is a kind of multi-usage water container called, pila.
People use the "pilas" to retain water (for days or months), wash ...
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2answers
150 views
“A person who sells the toys in the street”
She often makes her children sleep for fear that ___ should come into the street again.
That person sells toys such as balloon, doll, ball, bicycle, train, etc... travelling (especially along the ...
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1answer
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How does ellipses work in these sentences?
In the book Angel and Demons, Dan Brown says under chapter 3:
The camber was dark. Medieval. Stone.
To me it looks like a very telegraphic kind of describing a space, which is very different than ...
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What type of noun is Majesty?
Consider the sentence, “Your Majesty, I was once the comedian of this court!".
What type of noun is Majesty? Is it proper noun or common noun or abstract noun?
My friend said that it is abstract ...
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1answer
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The known unknowns
Is "known" an adjective while "unknown" is a noun here?
The known unknowns of T cell immunity to COVID-19
Abstract: Tremendous progress has been made in understanding the role of ...
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“Beaux Arts,” Why is it plural?
Beaux Arts Architecture in the Spotlight ( A title from an ACT test passage)
Based on Collins Dic, art is plural:
N-VAR Thearts are activities such as music, painting, literature, film, and dance, ...
asked Nov 11 '20 at 3:31
HypnoticBuggyWraithVirileBevy
1,7731 gold badge7 silver badges23 bronze badges
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part of speech of 'much' in 'That's too much of a hassle'
What is the part of speech of 'much' in
'That's too much of a hassle'?
While this sounds so simple and basic, the answer could not seem to converge on one.
The answer may be
(a) a noun, although a ...
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Why did Biden say “the count works”?
Why did Biden say "the count works" when he referred to votes?
Why not "the counting works"?
Is the second one wrong?
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2answers
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Why sister [nouns] and not brother [nouns]?
I have noticed this quite often that other (closely) related common nouns are called sister [common noun]. For example:
This question is off-topic here, but is on-topic on our sister site.
This issue ...
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1answer
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Is a reader feminine like the moon or ship?
Is a reader feminine like the moon or a ship? Here I present a few examples from an academic lecture on how to write a good scientific paper. The audience are aspiring authors of future scientific ...
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1answer
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Which is correct: “A group of kids was punished” or “A group of kids were punished”?
The first sentence sounds grammatically correct but really weird. Meanwhile, the second sentence sounds grammatically incorrect but much better.
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The usage of “preposition + noun”
I’ve asked question about the title’s, but I don’t see any coherence in the usage, that some of them sound natural and others don’t.
For example, they said “Through the wood is the nearest way.” ...
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Is war a verb in “If they come to war”?
I remember hearing a sentence in Game of Thrones season 3, it went like:
Ser Barristan, if they come to war, kill that one first.
Daenerys tells Ser Barristan to kill one of the rude master of ...
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Bread + singular / plural pronoun
I know that "bread" is an uncountable noun. So logically its referred pronoun should be singular as well, but recently, I have come across a sentence in a book (written by a non-native ...
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“Municipality of <municipality-name>” or “<municipality-name> Municipality”
I was discussing with some people about which form is more correct regarding a Municipality, or other territory divisions.
For example, regarding to a map of the municipality, is it more correct to ...
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Single word that encompasses backpacks, baskets, pockets, etc
What is a good, single word to describe any means of keeping and transporting items?
The word must describe: backpacks, baskets, pockets, purses and plastic bags. Bonus points if hands fit the ...
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1answer
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What's the meaningful way when I mean that all are included? of first to fifth, of first up to fifth or from first to fifth?
He doesn't want to transfer students of first to fifth grades to remote learning.
He doesn't want to transfer students from first to fifth grades to remote learning.
He doesn't want to transfer ...
