Nouns functioning as other parts of speech

Question

I am reading about nouns functioning as adjectives, and my textbook gives two sentences as an example:
1) That student wrote a report that was ten pages long.
2) That student wrote a ten-page report.
The textbook states that in the first sentence "pages" functions as a noun, while in the second sentence "ten-page" functions as an adjective.
I am trying to make sense of it, so I look at the first sentence: "was" is a linking verb, it is modified by the adjective "long", the numeral "ten" modifies the noun "pages", so "ten" works as an adjective here, but "ten pages" modify the adjective "long", so "ten pages" works as an adverb here (adverbial phrase, perhaps?).
So, is it correct to say that in the first sentence "pages" functions as a noun and not as an adverb?
Or do I miss something here?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

My Dear FriendI am reading about nouns functioning as adjectives,

A bit of terminology - nouns can modify other nouns, but they are not adjectives. The adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun, but adjectives have comparative and superlative forms; nouns do not. Determiners are another class of words that modify nouns. Types of determiners are articles, possessives, and quantifiers.

Adjectives are usually pre-modifiers, that is, they are positioned before the noun.
Nouns can be followed by post-modifiers. These are commonly clauses or prepositional phrases.

Complements can also follow the noun. They are required to "complete" the meaning of the noun phrase. These can be adverbs, clauses or prepositional phrases. The noun phrase makes no sense if you omit the complement.

Here is a good explanation of all this:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/noun-phrases/noun-phrases-dependent-words

1) That student wrote a report that was ten pages long.

"ten pages long" is a noun phrase. It is a subject complement.

Ten is a quantifier.
Pages is a noun.

Long is a complement, an adverb.

BillJ · Answer

––My Dear FriendI am reading about nouns functioning as adjectives, and my textbook gives two sentences as an example:1) That student wrote a report that was ten pages long.2) That student wrote a ten-page report.The textbook states that in the first sentence "pages" functions as a noun, while in the second sentence "ten-page" functions as an adjective.

In 1) pages is a noun, and ten is a determiner. Ten pages long is an adjective phrase, where the adjective long is modified by the noun phrase ten pages.

In 2) ten-page is best treated as a compound adjective functioning as modifier of report.

My Dear FriendI am trying to make sense of it, so I look at the first sentence: "was" is a linking verb, it is modified by the adjective "long", the numeral "ten" modifies the noun "pages", so "ten" works as an adjective here, but "ten pages" modify the adjective "long", so "ten pages" works as an adverb here (adverbial phrase, perhaps?).

Was is (in basic terminology) a 'linking verb'. Ten pages long is not here a modifier but an adjective phrase functioning as subjective predicative complement of was. It’s called ‘subjective’ because it refers to the subject a report. Ten is not an adjective; it’s a determiner in the noun phrase “ten pages”. No, ten pages is not an adverb; it’s a noun phrase functioning as modifier of the adjective long.

My Dear FriendSo, is it correct to say that in the first sentence "pages" functions as a noun and not as an adverb?Or do I miss something here?

No, pages does not function as a noun: it is a noun: that is its word category. Its function is that of head of the noun phrase ten pages, which is functioning as modifier of the adjective long.

Cool Breeze · Answer

My Dear FriendOr do I miss something here?

My Dear Friend, my suggestion is that you just try to learn English and forget the differences of opinion that grammarians have. Of course it's impossible to do without grammar completely, but grammar should be an aid, not an end in itself. If you want to consider ten-page an adjective in a ten-page report, by all means, do so if you think it facilitates your learning process.

Personally, I never gave such usage much grammatical thought except for the fact that the singular (page) is required in such contexts. If you know that, you know enough grammar. You don't need to know what term is "correct" to refer to it. There is no agreement anyway. I have never used any grammatical term to refer to ten-page in an expression like your example and I taught English for about 35 years in Finnish schools. My aim was not to teach fine points of grammar but to teach English. I was very successful. My students were consistently better than the national average in nationwide exams.

CB

Nouns functioning as other parts of speech

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬