[FFML] [Haruhi] [Dark] Error in Calculation: Chapter Five

[Chester Castañeda]

On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 4:13 AM, Mart van de Wege <mvdwege at gmail.com> wrote:
> Brian Randall <durandall at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> 2010/3/27 Chester Castañeda <chester.castaneda at gmail.com>:
>>> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 1:00 AM, Brian Randall <durandall at gmail.com> wrote:
> <snip>
>>>> heartbeat later, a kindly looking face with pale green eyes gazed into
>>>
>>> Suggest: pale-green
>>
>> Alrighty.
>>
> Erm. No.

That depends on what he means, so maybe.

> Not a native speaker here, but fluent enough: pale is a modifier on
> green, it's not part of a compound.

Compound modifiers are usually used in order to avoid confusion on
what's being modified.  For example, American-football player refers
to a player that plays American football, not just a football (could
be soccer) player that's American.

> Unless you mean 'a specific shade of green that is pale', then it is a
> legitimate compound, if however you mean 'green eyes that are pale' then
> it is two seperate words.

If he meant that the eyes are pale, then yes, then it's not a compound
modifier and doesn't need the hyphen. If he means that green is pale,
then it needs the hyphen. Hence the "Suggest" before my grammar
recommendation. It depends on the meaning.

> Compare e.g. 'sea-green', which would fit my first criterium, vs. 'dark
> green', an example of the second.

Er, mostly correct, but in regards to dark green...

"A compound adjective is a modifier of a noun. It consists of two or
more morphemes of which the left-hand component limits or changes the
modification of the right-hand one, as in "the dark-green dress": dark
limits the green that modifies dress."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dark-green

...It could be used as a compound modifier. So it depends on the
meaning or what's being conveyed, just to be clear. In fairness,
common usage dictates "pale green" and "dark green" (variants of
green) as correct according to your explanation, so it really just
depends on what message you're trying to convey.

> Mart
>
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