Page 138 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking
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■ ■ ■ ■ American movies African restaurant Kantian thought Victorian era
Sometimes proper nouns behave like proper adjectives and do not take a new
suffix.
■ ■ ■ California quail Texas barbecue Wall Street wizard See more about
proper nouns in section 8.7.
11.5 Compound Adjectives
Much like compound nouns (see section 8.1), compound adjectives combine two
or more words into a single lexical item to modify a noun. They are often
separated by a hyphen.
■ ■ ■ a broken-down sofa a six-foot-long snake a no-account criminal Short
expressions can also be used as compound adjectives. They are set off by
quotation marks.
■ The “Corvette fanatic” portion of the driving public would love this car.
■ My “Hawaiian dream” fantasy involves a lot of nighttime swimming.
■ The cat gave me a “where’s my food?” face as he purred on my
chest.
When using well to make positive compound adjectives, use a hyphen when
the adjective comes before the noun it modifies. When it appears after, do not
use a hyphen.
■ What a well-written speech!
■ It’s a well-thought-out plan and it will work.
■ My puppy is well behaved.
11.6 Indefinite Adjectives
Indefinite adjectives broadly describe or modify a noun (see section 8.0,
