Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[rice07]

Hi

...

Rogge(IOC president Jacques Rogge) has had nothing to say about the unyielding crackdown on Tibetans- a crackdown that has now turned into a witch hunt for troublemakers. ...

I realized that ' hunt ' in this case should be a ' noun ', but I'm wondering that if ' a witch hunt for ' could be replaced with ' a witch hunting for '. ' hunting(=who / that hunts[hunted]) ', is a present participle served as an adjective in this case.

Many common ideas in English are expressed by noun + noun compounds. In this structure, the first noun modifies or describes the second, a little like adjective. Compare:

1. milk chocolate (a kind of chocolate)

2. chocolate milk (a kind of milk)

3. a tiger hunt (a kind of hunt for tigers)

4. a witch hunt for troublemakers ( = ??? a hunt is being launched by a witch for troublemakers)(In comparison to the point 3, I think these cases[the point 4 and 4-1] are quite confusing.)

4-1:Another similiar example:

Hunderds have joined a police hunt(noun) for the missing teenager.

More than two nouns can be put together. A group of two nouns can modify a third noun, these can modify a fourth, and so on.

5. oil production costs

6. road accident research centre

Now, back to the core of my questions:

A: Could I replace ' hunt(noun) ' with ' hunting(present participle) ' in that case? If I could, which one( ' hunt ' or ' hunting ' ) better matches the mood?

B: Am I right over point 4(the case with ' ??? ')?


Sorry for being dull over those points. Hope not trouble you too much, if you could depict them for me in detail. Much obliged!

[Lorikeet]

I'm going to post the Wikipedia definition of "witch hunt" here because I think some of you may not be able to go to that site. (I don't know if it's still blocked in some countries.)

[rice07]

Hi

Thanks Teacher Lorikeet. I guess I've seen your point right for ' witch hunt '. but what about the point 4-1(Hundreds have joined a police hunt for the missing teenager)? I believe that , in this case, there really exsists hunderds having joined a police(the police) doing the hunt for the missing teenager.

3. a tiger hunt

=> The tiger(tigers) is / are the prey(s) in this case.

a tiger hunt for small animals

But deducing from the point 3 , don't you think ' a tiger hunt ' and ' a tiger hunt for small animals ' are quite confusing? because, to the contrary, the tiger(tigers) is / are the predator(s) in the case ' a tiger hunt for small animals '.

That's the core of my questions. Thanks for your help!

[Lorikeet]

Oh, I'm sorry I read too fast. Yes, I agree it could be ambiguous in theory and would depend on the context. In general, we think "police hunt" means the police are hunting, and "tiger hunt" means the tigers are being hunted, because those are both more common.