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[–] 74 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    How is space an adjective in the first one? Shouldn't it be a noun?

    These Anglo-Saxons again, putting random spaces into compound words.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I think it's because it's describing the noun.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It's not describing the noun, it's part of the noun.

    Quick analogy in German:

    space billionaire = Weltraummilliärdär

    spacefaring billionaire = weltraumreisender Milliärdär

    In German, adjective + noun cannot be written together to form a new noun. To form one, only noun + noun can be used. And English is close enough to Germanic languages for that rule to remain the same, I think.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago*

    You are correct. In English, when a noun is used to modify another noun (as an adjective does), it's referred to as a noun adjunct, attributive noun, or, more rarely, an adjectival noun (the last almost exclusively refers to a similar usage in Japanese). While it serves the purpose of an adjective, it's still technically a noun.

    Examples are chicken soup, toy store, race car, and boat lane.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    To be clear it's not about "spacefaring" billionaires but about "spacing" billionaires aka dumping them out an airlock into space as seen in various "The Expanse" scenes.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's for the second one though, for the [verb] [noun] combination. The "[adjective]" [noun] combination implies spacefaring or similar, doesn't it?

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