OK, I was wrong, it does have plural
OK, I was wrong, it does have plural
Marko: GREAT find on the headless nouns -- thanks!
So at least we know there is a plural -- and it appears it is "still lifes"
ok, tougher question: what's the plural of Jesus?
Depends on the context. If you're referring to the Biblical figure, any plural usage would imply one or more "false Christs" and quickly get lost in theology. If you're referring to Histpanics, however, the correct plurals is "Jesuses" -- "We've got six Jesuses, four Joses, and three Pedros here tonight."
If a contact print at arm's length is too small to see, you need a bigger camera. :D
A little more clarification on the hyphens --
You do use the hyphenated form of a compound modifier BEFORE a noun and drop the hyphen when it is after the noun. (See #1 HERE.
However, when in plural form a compound modifier usually stands alone or comes after the noun and thus would rarely be hyphenated in its plural form. When it it used before the noun and is in a plural context, the compound is generally kept singular with the noun being pluralized.
Phew --
Your next assignment, Jack, is to explain the usage difference between a hyphen, an n-dash, and the m-dash.
Oh, and how best to photograph that difference with an LF camera. ;-)
What is being pluralized here is the 'photograph', not the number of still lives. The logical phrase would be 'still life photographs'. You had it correct in the line before the coices.
Ralph: Good one
For en/em-dash use see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#En_dash
,
Jack,
In formal, American English it is usually preferable, for simplicity and clarity, to place the adjective before the noun it modifies rather than after it (e.g., "She has red hair."). If the adjective were placed after the noun, the sentence would then read, "She has hair red," which is grammatically incorrect and illogical. However, because English is a pliable language, one could place the adjectives after the noun, and these adjectives would not be hyphenated, in most cases, as you have suggested:
"Her hair, red and beautiful, flowed gracefully in the breeze as I quickly set the shutter of my Schneider Red Dot Artar."
When using compound or coordinated adjectives to modify a noun, it is preferable to hyphenate them if one adjective is clearly subordinate to the other; that is, one adjective, while acting as a qualifier or descriptor, is not crucial to the meaning of the sentence or to the adjective it modifies:
"Her bright-red hair flowed gracefully in the breeze."
When the adjectives are not subordinate, then no hyphens are used, as in this example from Reuters :
"President Bush takes part in a conversation on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit at the Association Borinquena de Florida Central in Orlando, Florida, May 10, 2006."
"Medicare Prescription Drug" all modify "Benefit" and are crucial adjectives to the meaning of the sentence.
What I have described here is an over simplification of the rules governing adjective forms. For a more thorough treatment, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, which lists no fewer than 24 rules. What I have described above is usually covered in tenth-grade, high school English in America.
As for the hyphenation of words in general, my advice is to use consistently an authoritative dictionary. If your native language is British English, that source would be the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Fifth Edition, and if you could afford it, the Unabridged Edition, all 22 volumes. If your native language is American English, then use the Unabridged Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 2002 Edition.
I hope this helps.
Gregory: I do understand, though we do change wording when we juxtapose adjectives. As English is a pliable language we can say, "She has reddish-brown hair" just as easily as we can say "Her hair is reddish brown."
Cheers,
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