Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenGum
Isn't it common for the present continuous form of a noun to be used as an adjective? The Running Man? A weeping willow? The swinging sixties?
Or if you don't like that reading, consider treating "visiting rights" as a phrasal noun.
"Visit rights" would be a case of a verb modifying a noun. And it would be horrible. :p
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Any native speaker would understand what you were talking about if you said "visiting rights," but I think most would be uncomfortable with it. It doesn't sound natural, like it lies somewhere between "visit rights" and "visitation rights" in it's correctness.
'Running man', 'weeping willow' and 'swinging sixties' would be compound nouns, right?
'The running man' might break down thus (sorry, don't know how to subscript):
((THE)det. (((RUNNING)v)vp ((MAN)n)np)np)np[.subj]
One of the techniques they taught us in my linguistics classes was to use substitution. If you can substitute one word for another without changing the structure of the sentence, then it's likely serving the same functions.
Take your example: "[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's visitation rights" and substitute 'running.' It works fine, both mean the pop star's right to do something has been suspended. Try to substitute 'visitation' into 'the running man.' I'm not sure about "the visitation man."
Okay. That's not every enlightening. Maybe paraphrasing will help.
"The running man" == "The man that is running"
"The visitation man" == "The man that visits"
"The visiting man" == "The man that is visiting"
"[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's visitation rights"
== "[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's rights to visit [something]"
"[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's visiting rights"
== "[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's rights to visit [something]"
"[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's running rights"
== "[Someone] suspended the troubled pop star's rights to run"
Yes, I've officially confused the shit out of myself. There's something going on here that my sleep-deprived brain can't pinpoint...