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[blueberrymango]

Hello, former ESL teacher, current elementary reading and writing teacher in US here.

I have a question and I thought you all might be the best to provide a detailed answer.

If a noun is acting as an adjective, is it still a noun, or does it actually become an adjective?

For example:

She picked up her chipped, blue coffee mug.

Coffee is usually a noun, but is it an adjective here? Or just a noun acting as an adjective? I've been having my students circle or underline parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and I don't know how to label these words.

There are several links on the topic but I can't find a clear answer.

http://www.englishleap.com/grammar/noun-as-adjective

Thanks.

[Osiry]

I think that because of how often the words are used together you can treat it as if coffee and mug are hyphenated, which would make it a noun? I'm not sure though, it seems to be a bit of a common usage rule.

[nomad soul]

You're referring to a noun adjunct. In other words, it's a noun modifying another noun to create a compound noun. Compound nouns are indicated as two words (e.g., coffee mug, kitchen towel, duct tape, face mask, etc.) as well as one word, like football, teacup, chainsaw, carport, sunglasses, and so on.

As for hyphenation, basic compound nouns that are generally hyphenated would include words such as self-esteem, self-confidence, self-determination... I suspect the rules for hyphenation vary between British and American English usage.

[blueberrymango]

[peripatetic_soul]

Dear Blueberry,

To add to NS' reply, I always tell my ESL reading students that CONTEXT is everything (ex: Compare "The President lives in the Whitehouse" vs. "She has a white house.")

In writing class as well, the mantra is: Word position determines grammatical function. The simple example I use to introduce this concept is with the word "swimming."

SWIMMING is fun. - noun (gerund) subject
I love SWIMMING. - noun (gerund) object
He is SWIMMING. - present continuous verb and to add your ex:
The kids jumped in the SWIMMING POOL. - compound noun

As you know, a GERUND is a verb that contains -ing and operates as a noun (subject or object position).

There has been some debate about your "coffee mug" question. Some grammarians argue, if we can ask WHAT KIND OF MUG, this question refers to a descriptive word, an adjective (coffee). Other linguists, as NS explained, view it as a NOUN ADJUNCT, similar to a COMPOUND NOUN.

I don't think it's necessary to give complex examples to young learners until they have grasped various grammatical concepts which are learned in developmental stages. There are lots of great grammar reference books and online resources. I also used activities from enchantedlearning.com to teach these points to middle school ESL students.

Regards,
PS

[blueberrymango]

Thanks for your response! A few thoughts/questions:

[nomad soul]

[peripatetic_soul]

Dear Blackberry,

With respect to your comment:

[Not trying to argue, actually curious, but isn't swimming still a verb here? You could also have the infinitive form: I love to swim.]

You are correct: In the above example, "love to swim" is a verb phrase just as the following are:

I WANT TO GO. - main verb WANT + infinitive verb "to go"
I NEED TO LEAVE. - main verb NEED + infinitive verb "to leave"
I HOPE TO MEET you. - "
I WOULD LIKE TO EAT now.


Azar covers this in her chapter on gerunds vs. infinitives in her Chartbook of rules.

As NS pointed out, context is the determining variable as to linguistic function as well. It goes hand in hand with word position.

I like SWIMMING - swimming is a gerund (a verb acting as a noun object)
I like TO SWIM - main verb Like + infinitive form "to swim"

As you know, some verbs are amenable to both gerunds and infinitives whereas others are not but that's another lesson.

By the way, eslflow.com provides great grammar-focused activities with pictures.

Regards,
PS

[/u]

[In the heat of the moment]

What about if the mug is made of coffee?