[FFML] [Haruhi] [Dark] Error in Calculation: Chapter Five

[Mart van de Wege]

Chester Castañeda <chester.castaneda at gmail.com> writes:

> On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 4:13 AM, Mart van de Wege <mvdwege at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Brian Randall <durandall at gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> 2010/3/27 Chester Castañeda <chester.castaneda at gmail.com>:
>>>> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 1:00 AM, Brian Randall <durandall at gmail.com> wrote:
>> <snip>
>>>>> heartbeat later, a kindly looking face with pale green eyes gazed into
>>>>
>>>> Suggest: pale-green
>>>
>>> Alrighty.
>>>
>> Erm. No.
>
> That depends on what he means, so maybe.
>
>> Not a native speaker here, but fluent enough: pale is a modifier on
>> green, it's not part of a compound.
>
> Compound modifiers are usually used in order to avoid confusion on
> what's being modified.  For example, American-football player refers
> to a player that plays American football, not just a football (could
> be soccer) player that's American.
>
Ah yes.

Although this particular example is nice, because it shows the pitfall
of keeping a sequence of two adjectives separate; it creates ambiguity.

>> Unless you mean 'a specific shade of green that is pale', then it is a
>> legitimate compound, if however you mean 'green eyes that are pale' then
>> it is two seperate words.
>
> If he meant that the eyes are pale, then yes, then it's not a compound
> modifier and doesn't need the hyphen. If he means that green is pale,
> then it needs the hyphen. Hence the "Suggest" before my grammar
> recommendation. It depends on the meaning.
>
I read your suggestion a tad more prescriptive than you perhaps meant. 

I agree, it's a valid suggestion, depending on what exactly Brian is
trying to convey.

>> Compare e.g. 'sea-green', which would fit my first criterium, vs. 'dark
>> green', an example of the second.
>
> Er, mostly correct, but in regards to dark green...
>
> "A compound adjective is a modifier of a noun. It consists of two or
> more morphemes of which the left-hand component limits or changes the
> modification of the right-hand one, as in "the dark-green dress": dark
> limits the green that modifies dress."
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound
>
> http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dark-green
>
> ...It could be used as a compound modifier. 

I've read quite a bit of English literature, and I hardly ever see
'dark-green'.

Then again:

> So it depends on the meaning or what's being conveyed, just to be
> clear. In fairness, common usage dictates "pale green" and "dark
> green" (variants of green) as correct according to your explanation,
> so it really just depends on what message you're trying to convey.

Yeah, keeping them separate appears to be more common. But compounding
the adjectives is a valid device, depending on what you want to achieve.

Sometimes the agglutinative nature of Dutch is a lot easier. I'm
particularly sensitive to this issue, because my native language almost
always compounds two adjectives that modify the same noun (Dutch would
be 'lichtgroen' (licht = pale, groen = obvious); so if I don't watch my
English usage, I would tend to overdo the compounding.

Mart

-- 
"We will need a longer wall when the revolution comes."
--- AJS, quoting an uncertain source.