Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[shmilymfs]

hello,

can i say " the first period of september" or "the first september" instead of "the first ten-day period of september"?

"the middle ten days of september" → " the middle period of september"
"the last ten days of september" →"the last period of september"

[CP]

Breaking up months into 10-day periods is evidently something done in Asia but not in the U.S. or Europe. English doesn't have a special word for a third of a month or a 10-day period.

We say week and fortnight (two weeks, British), but not third of a month, or what have you.

You could say "the first third of the month" or "the first 10 days of the month" if you wanted to, or just refer to the dates that encompass the periods.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[shmilymfs]

Thank you, CP. Could you also help me with another two questions?

1. do you have any specific terms to describe the color of"purple green" ?
2. "disease-resistant" or "disease-resistance" is correct? I am always confused with this kind of word.

[CP]

1. Purple-green is not a color name that I've ever heard. The usual arrangement of colors, compliments of the rainbow, is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet (purple).

Any two adjacent colors have shades between them, of course, so you might have red-orange, or a greenish yellow, etc. Since green and purple are not adjacent, there is no shade between them except blue, but I don't think most people would imagine your purple-green to be blue.

You can mix colors that aren't adjacent, creating all sorts of other colors, as well. Take green and put in a little purple, and I'm pretty sure you'll get an unusual color. But it probably wouldn't be blue, and whether people looking at the color would call it purple-green is open to question.

Try it and let us know the results!

2. Disease resistance means the quality of being resistant to disease. Suppose you have cross-bred several kinds of corn to give the corn disease resistance. Then you would say that you have disease-resistant corn.

Disease resistance is a noun phrase; disease-resistant is an adjective phrase.

I was taught to hyphenate such adjective phrases when used before the noun but not after, unless required for clarity.

"I like your disease-resistant corn. It tastes better now that it is disease resistant. What is it about disease resistance that makes your corn taste so good?"
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb