IELTS preparation made easier
Members Academy
Log in
Using nouns as adjectives causes a few errors with the plural ‘s’.
In this lesson, you will learn ONE quick tip that will fix (almost) everything.
Most of the time, you are not aware you’re using nouns as adjectives e.g. in compound nouns like
But sometimes they cause problems, as you can see below.
To get more information, you can google:
Also see my lesson relating to hyphens in compound nouns.
Look at the list of errors below. Can you see what the main problem is?
So what is the simple tip?
When you use nouns as adjectives, don’t put ‘s’ on the noun before the noun!
The ‘normal’ adjective rules are very simple.
Adjectives describe nouns, for example
But nouns describe nouns too.
Unlike normal adjectives, these ‘nouns as adjectives’ can go:
BEFORE the noun e.g. heart disease
AFTER the noun (with a preposition) e.g. disease OF the heart
Like ‘normal’ adjectives, these ‘noun-like adjectives’ do not need any kind of ‘s’ (plural or possessive).
A soup made of carrots = carrot soup
NOT
A park for cars = a car park
NOT
Let’s look at the 3 most common prepositions that ‘create’ noun-like adjectives ‘in’ ‘of’ and ‘for’.
(= for the purpose of)
Also:
We saw examples of measurements in my previous blog about hyphens e.g.
Time nouns after ‘a/an’ need ‘s’ – an hour’s delay, a moment’s hesitation
The examples relating to materials are well-known e.g
‘-er/-or’ nouns
‘-ing’ nouns
In the ‘nouns as adjectives’ list of errors above, we saw that you do NOT need any kind of ‘s’ (no possessive ‘s’ or plural ‘s’).
However, there are some exceptions.
Plural ‘s’ is used in these examples:
Possessive ‘s’ is used with these irregular plurals:
Possessive ‘s’ is also correct in these examples (both options are correct):
Compare
Many nouns are also adjectives e.g.
human, chemical, adult, alternative, classic, individual, minimum, transport, professional, male, female, animal, wildlife.
Other mistakes that occur, often in Speaking, are:
If you just take away one thing from this lesson, it is that you should think twice about using an ‘s’ on words that describe nouns.
Keep it simple and drop the ‘s’.
If you’d like to look at the topic in more depth, I found this GUINLIST blog immensely useful and I am indebted to Paul Fanning for helping me understand the issues and for his excellent examples.
Find a simple but useful British Council guide to noun modifiers here.
This EnglishClub blog also has a simple list.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Hi
My doubt is, in phrases like Wonder Woman, miracle grain, etc., are ‘wonder’ and ‘miracle’ adjectives? What are they called?
Hi Tressa
I’m not sure if there’s a technical word for them, but they are adjectives in examples like “a wonder drug” or “a miracle cure”.
Let me know if you find a technical word please!
Best wishes
Fiona
Many thanks for your question and for taking the time to explain it so clearly.
As you correctly point out, the gap needs an adjective to describe the experts.
Adjectives never take a plural ‘s’, so these people are ‘computer experts’, not ‘computers* experts’.
There are lots of examples that you use everyday without thinking about it (see more in the blog), for example, a park (noun) for cars (plural noun) becomes a ‘carpark’ (not a ‘cars* park’).
The noun (‘car’) becomes an adjective when it comes before the noun (‘park’) because it’s describing the kind of park it is.
I hope that helps but please let me know if you have any other questions after you’ve read the blog,
Best wishes
Fiona
Hi,
while solving the questions for IELTS listening from the book:
” The Official Cambridge guide to IELTS FOR ACADEMIC AND GENERAL TRAINING ”
I faced a difficulty to agree with a reason of one of the incorrect answer .
(The addressed question is under the NB at the end of the comment. )
P# 21
3.2 Listen to an extract from a conversation and answer the question below.
Complete the sentence below with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR
A NUMBER.
The expo will be useful because there will be more than _________ experts there.
3.3 Now look at the answers that different candidate wrote. Tick the correct answers. Why are the other answers incorrect?
• two hundred and fivety computer
• 250 computer
• Two hundred and fifty computers
• over 250 computer
• 250 computer experts
• over 250 experts
• two hundred and fifty computer
• 250
Answer Key
3.3
• two hundred and fivety computer x (the number is spelt incorrectly)
• 250 computer (correct)
• Two hundred and fifty computers x (there should be no ‘s’ on computer- it’s an adjective here)
• over 250 computer x (this is two words not one; over is not necessary because more than is already in the sentence.)
• 250 computer experts x (this is two words not one; experts is not necessary because it is already in the sentence)
• over 250 experts x (this is two words not on; the words over and experts are not necessary)
• two hundred and fifty computer (correct)
• 250 (correct)
NB
below is the addressed question from the above answer key:
Two hundred and fifty computers x (there should be no ‘s’ on computer- it’s
an adjective here)
could you please assist me why
1. There should be no ‘s’ on computer ?
2. How is it an adjective here?
3. How can a noun be converted in to an adjective?
Thanks