Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

General Discussion

Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)

4. That construction has a technical name.

Reply to dalton99a (Reply #2)

Wed May 10, 2017, 01:12 PM

May 2017

In English, it can be grammatically proper to ram a bunch of nouns together in a phrase.

In the Romance languages, by contrast, the phrase would have to be the equivalent of "grammatical mistake" or "mistake of the grammar". In English, however, "grammar mistake" is proper. In fact, I can thank you for your Internet message board grammar post, using a string of five nouns with no prepositions.

There's even a name for this type of string, although alas I've forgotten it.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

9 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Grammar Nazi: Two grammar mistakes in one sentence of Trump's [View all] KingCharlemagne May 2017 OP

Thank you! Shanti Mama May 2017 #1

Grammar mistake or grammatical mistake? dalton99a May 2017 #2

That construction has a technical name. Jim Lane May 2017 #4

Trump only hires the best people (who apply). L. Coyote May 2017 #3

Trumps writes well in that letter lunatica May 2017 #5

ONLY two? someone else must have written it. niyad May 2017 #6

I would rather swear at him in Japanese yuiyoshida May 2017 #7

Thank you for your paying due attention to this. nt FigTree May 2017 #8

Message deleted by DU the Administrators DavidDvorkin May 2017 #9