Noun Premodification with Nouns
Nouns as Modifiers
Nouns as modifiersA word, phrase or clause which gives more information about another word or phrase. Modifiers placed before the headword are premodifiers. Those placed after the headword are postmodifiers. perform the same functions as adjectives in that they give more information about the headwordThe head (or headword) is the main word in a phrase. Other parts of a phrase have a modifying or grammatical relationship with the headword. (noun) in the noun phrase. The tightest connections between nouns occur in noun compounds where the two words have one well understood meaning, for example "bus station". And sometimes they have become just one word, for example "motorcycle".
But we are concerned with a looser connection between a noun as adjective and its headword. This construction is a very powerful means of packing a lot of information into a few words.
Like adjectives, we can use a series of nouns to provide more information about the headword or about another noun, for example greenhouseheadword gasnoun describing what category of emissions emissionsheadword (noun).
Nouns as adjectives can be classified into various categories such as location: oceannoun describing where the trenches are trenchesheadword, specialization: healthheadword professionalsheadword, or composition: tomatonoun of composition (the sauce is made of tomatoes) sauceheadword.