COMPUTER SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Elements of Technical Writing
2005-2006
Nouns as adjectives
"Strictly speaking, it is poor writing to use a noun as an adjective. But today, it's
common practice; using nouns as adjectives can make a sentence more direct, less wordy.
For example, the phrase data analysis uses the noun data as an adjective
modifying analysis. It's better than the more roundabout phrase analysis of data
Nouns as adjectives are acceptable when used sparingly and clearly."
If too may adjectives pile up, break up the list with prepositional or participial phrases:
a frequency-shift power-line a relaying system using a
carrier relaying system frequency-shift power-line
carrier.
software-programmable modular a modular information-retrieval
information-retrieval system system with programmable software