This paper is concerned with the description of a not very common type of premodification of the noun in English. We refer to the prenoun positioning of a compound formed generally by a whole verb phrase, i.e. a verb [+V, ¿N] followed by its complements, though we can also find other cases of uncommonly complex premodifiers, such as adjectives [+V, +N] followed by clausal complementation and even whole clauses. The verb can appear in its infinitival form without the particle to, with the suffix -ing, the suffix -ed, or even in the imperative. These complex premodifiers generally appear with hyphens. Strings such as a take-or-leave-it professional, a take-it-or-go disdain, anxious-to-be-amused bachelors, a dog-eat-dog film, etc. illustrate the constructions under study.
© 2001-2025 Fundación Dialnet · Todos los derechos reservados