Nouns as attributes

Grammar Study

1. In English we can use nouns as adjectives according to the model N+N. (noun +noun)

e.g.: water sport, city transport, adventure holiday

The first word functions as an attribute and answers the question “What kind of?”

Sometimes three or more words are combined. But the key word is the last in the word combination.

e.g.: Tourist Information Center,

business trip people

Air traffic control

Business travel expenditures

Winter sports holiday premium

The relationship between the nouns can be of many kinds including

place: city center, shop window, seaside resort

time: summer holiday, weekend break

function: art gallery, holiday flat

material: leather bag, metal flower, snow ball

2. ‘s and’s can be used not only for the nouns but in the expressions of time with numbers:

e.g.: An hour’s drive from airport.

Two days’ journey.

A month’s holiday in Hungary.

Five minutes’ walk.

3. In the expressions beginning with “a”, “the” or a possessive pronoun, when followed by a number, the first noun is singular:

e. g.: The tour includes a two-day expedition to the caves.

The three-day train journey was boring.

His thirty-mile bike over the mountains left him exhausted.

Ex. 45. Match the noun in A with the noun in B and translate.the resulting word combinations.

A	B
health	city
boat	trip
guide	travel
capital	book
air	team
sport	accommodation
hotel	coast
sea	agency
tourist	age
railroad	club
resort	hotel
winter	destination
chain	operation
customer	service
coffee	hotel
night	station
luxury	shop
business	season

Ex. 46. Rewrite these sentences without changing the meaning. Listen and check.

e.g. The train journey which lasted for 3 days was quite boring.

The tree-day train journey was quite boring.

1. We stayed in a hotel with three stars.

2. Travel by air is very popular.

3. An outdoor pavilion for cooking was transformed to floor for dance.

4. Companies which are 30 years old fight hard to change their image.

5. The cattle ranch of 70 000 acres has been accessed to Wyo Campground.

6. There are various tasks to compete during a trip of 30 minutes.

7. We are still waiting for someone to beat the record time for exit which lasted for 25 minutes.

Ex. 47. Rewrite these sentences with numbers. Mind the sentence structure.

e.g. A specialist lecturer accompanies each cruise which lasts 17 days.

A specialist lecturer accompanies each seventeen day cruise.

1. It takes two hours to drive to the airport.

2. The journey to the center of London takes forty-five minutes.

3. From Santiago to San Francisco there’s a freeway with four lanes.

4. Their expedition, which took six months, nearly met with disaster.

5. It takes five minutes to walk from the hotel to the beach.

6. Tourists usually have 3 days of stay in Singapore in their visit to friends and relatives in other parts in South East Asia.

7. Most Americans have vocation which last only two weeks.

8. He went on a journey to Paris that takes four hours.

Ex. 48. Read the text and write out nouns functioning like attributes. Give their Russian equivalents.

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