Parts of speech

Question

I crossed a training center while walking that named as 'Scotland Police dog training centre'.

I know that "centre" is a noun in "Scotland Police dog training centre".

What about the other four words: Scotland, Police, dog, and training?

Which parts of speech do they indicate?

"Scotland", "police" and "dogs" are all nouns. "Training" is a verb. — BillJ, Sep 04 '16 at 18:30
@Peter I agree in "Scotland Police dogs training center" these are adjectives. Only "centre" is a noun. — , Sep 04 '16 at 18:47
@ Bill, could you explain why "training" is a verb in " Scotland Police dogs training center"? I think Peter is right "training" is an adjective in "Scotland Police dogs training center". — , Sep 04 '16 at 18:50
@Amn The OP asked for the parts of speech, i.e. noun/adjective/verb/adverb etc. "Training" is a participle and hence its part of speech must be verb. — BillJ, Sep 04 '16 at 18:56
@ PaulM I know they are nouns.But in "Scotland Police dogs training center" these are adjectives except " center". I think Peter is right. — , Sep 04 '16 at 18:56
@ Bill, but I have asked about these parts of speech with special reference to " Scotland Police dogs training center". I did not ask about the parts of speech "generally". — , Sep 04 '16 at 18:58
@Amn I think you're conflating part of speech with function. For example, "training centre" is a noun phrase in which the verb (part of speech) is modifying (function) "centre. — BillJ, Sep 04 '16 at 18:59
@Amn Yes you did; your question specifically asks "What part of speech is Scotland, police, dogs and training..."? and that's precisely what I've given you. — BillJ, Sep 04 '16 at 19:00
@BillJ true, that's really my fault. I stand corrected. I should have used the word "function" instead of "parts of speech". — , Sep 04 '16 at 19:02
@Amn Ah, I did wonder if that's what you meant. So we're looking at quite a complicated noun phrase in which nouns are modifying other nouns, and the verb "training" is modifying "centre". 'Modifier' is the key-word here, not 'adjective. — BillJ, Sep 04 '16 at 19:04

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '16 at 20:16

Scotland Police Dogs Training Centre

is what is known as a Noun Compound. English is full of noun compounds, which are formed by putting nouns together, in what seems like any order at all, to form multi-word phrases that behave like single nouns. Noun Compound is a mnemonic name, because it is itself a noun compound; it's composed of two nouns and means 'compound composed of nouns'.

Quite often -- as with this example -- there are no adjectives at all.

This may come as a shock to some people, but nouns, even proper nouns, can modify other nouns, and even adjectives. Plus, practically any English word can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb, so it doesn't often matter which part of speech the dictionary says it is.

Taking the example apart, it is composed of 3 constituents, and the second constituent itself has two constituents, and one of those also has two constituents.

[Scotland [[police dogs] training] centre]
- Scotland
- [[police dogs] training]
  - [police dogs]
    - police
    - dogs
  - training
- centre

All the words are nouns; training can be considered a participle (hence a verb), but it can also be a noun, and in this case where all the other words are nouns, why should it be different?

Putting it back together, with as few noun compounds, and as many markers, as possible, we get

Centre for the Training of Dogs for Police in Scotland

which sounds a little strange because police dog is so close to being a single word.
If it were a single word, we'd get

Centre for the Training of Policedogs in Scotland

Do you find the plural dogs unusual? In these noun compounds aren't the adjectival nouns typically singular? e.g. Child Services. BTW, when I was a kid, we called German Shepherds "police-dogs". — TimR, Sep 05 '16 at 10:07
Two basic constituents actually, i.e. "Scotland Police" and "Dog Training Centre". The former is a proper name in its own right. The nominal "Scotland Police" is modifying the NP "Dog Training Centre". — BillJ, Sep 05 '16 at 10:13
Yes, @TRomano, I do find the plural unusual in compounds of this type; but not unknown. — Colin Fine, Sep 05 '16 at 10:39
That's another possible parsing. Since I'm an American and have never been to Scotland, the phrase Scotland Police is not a fixed phrase to me, whereas police dog is. The thing about noun compounds is that you leave out all the markers and depend on context and traditions to fill them in for you. This is what leads to the difference between pony ride and snake bite. — John Lawler, Sep 05 '16 at 13:55
@TRomano 5 I have rechecked, it is "dog" not dogs. My fault. — , Sep 05 '16 at 16:04

j4eo · Answer 2 · 2016-09-04T19:01:59.997

7

Scotland Police Dogs Training Centre

In this phrase, 'Scotland' modifies 'Police,' 'Police' modifies 'Dogs,' 'Dogs' modifies 'Training,' and 'Training' modifies 'Centre.'

'Scotland,' 'Police,' and 'Dogs' are nouns acting like adjectives. These are called noun adjuncts. Here's a nice article explaining it.

'Training' is a verb acting like an adjective. This is a use of the present participle.

edited Sep 04 '16 at 19:01

answered Sep 04 '16 at 18:29

j4eo

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I think Peter is right, all are adjectives except "centre". – Sep 04 '16 at 18:51
1

@Amn Sorry, wasn't thinking when I threw Training in with the nouns.
Peter didn't say they were adjectives, peter said they were nouns used in the same manner as adjectives. If you mean function, they're still not adjectives, because words don't just change parts of speech at will. The function of nouns that acts in the same manner as adjectives is called the "noun adjunct," and the function of verbs that acts in the same manner as adjectives is called the "present participle."
– j4eo Sep 04 '16 at 19:06
no worries, so your answer is "Scotland","Police" and "dogs" are noun adjuncts. "training" is present participle and "centre" is a noun. Is it so? – Sep 04 '16 at 20:24
2

@Amn: The relevant Wikipedia page says English has analogous types of verbal nouns (truly verbal kinds – gerunds and infinitives – and deverbal nouns). Deverbal nouns may also be used attributively, as noun adjuncts, as in a swimming* competition.* So if this sort of terminology interests you, I think you should probably go for the obvious - they're *all* "noun adjunct" usages. Bear in mind that *training* here is an activity (same as *golf, i.e. - a noun*). – FumbleFingers Sep 05 '16 at 00:18
1

"Training" is a VP; it is better to call it a 'modifier' than to say 'it is a verb acting as an adjective'. That is why we have the widely-used term 'modifier' in English grammar. VPs commonly modify nouns as in "a sleeping child", "the condemned man" etc. "Sleeping" and "condemned" are VPs as modifiers, not adjectives. – BillJ Sep 05 '16 at 07:05
@BillJ: It should be pointed out that "Sleeping child" is not parallel gramatically to "Training centre" - the "-ing" words in each case are performing different functions... – psmears Sep 05 '16 at 15:25
@psmears I would say that "sleeping" and "training" are both VPs functioning as attributive modifiers, so same function. You didn't say what functions you would ascribe to them. – BillJ Sep 05 '16 at 16:29
@BillJ:In "sleeping child" the implication is that the child is sleeping; you couldn't replace it with "*sleep child", but you could modify it with an adverb (eg "deeply sleeping child"). By contrast in "training centre", the implication is that the centre is for / associated with training, not that the centre is itself doing any training, and you could replace it with "education centre", but couldn't modify it adverbially ("*intensively training centre") without substantially altering the meaning. So I think I'd say "sleeping" is a VP but "training" is an NP (both as modifiers, of course) – psmears Sep 05 '16 at 17:14
@psmears Yes, "sleeping" can only be a VP; same with other examples like "the gleaming showroom". I did spot the contrast between "sleeping child" and "training centre". But in my grammar, 'noun-like' attributive modifiers are restricted to nominals, as in "a Brick wall", "high octane petrol", "some Egyptian cotton shirts", and so on, while gerund-participles are always VPs. "Training" is clearly a noun in, say, "the training of the troops", but is it really a noun in "training centre"? You may be right, but I have my doubts. – BillJ Sep 05 '16 at 18:38
@BillJ: Fair enough, there's more than one way to do grammar :-) But in a site for learners of English I think it's helpful to point out that there are differences between "sleeping child" and "training centre", both syntactic (e.g. whether an adverb can be added / whether the -ing word can be replaced by a noun) and semantic (child that is sleeping vs centre that is intended for training); that's what I was trying to get at with my original comment... – psmears Sep 06 '16 at 07:31

Arch Denton · Answer 3 · 2016-09-04T22:02:51.707

When you put two or more words together and they name a particular person, place, or thing, then you have created a proper, compound noun that ACTS as ONE single word.

One Proper noun: Scotland + common noun: police + common noun: dog, ETC.

Scotland Police Dog Training Center = a proper compound noun, and is one...word.

Proof:

Welcome to the Five O'clock News here on Channel 285.

The Scotland Police Dog Training Center announced today that it will be giving away free puppies to the first twenty people who come to the centre on Wednesday morning, when it opens its doors at eight o'clock.

None of the words in the proper, compound noun modify any other word in the name. They are used as one word. How can one word modify itself?

"...the parts of a compound noun may be written as one word, as two or more words, or as a hyphenated word."--Warriner's.

prizefighter, newsstand, news room, sister-in-law, Belmont Square Memorial Hospital, The Prudential Building, etc.

All treated as one word.

It doesn't mean a proper noun, one word or compound, cannot act like an adjective to modify a noun:

The Yellow Cab Taxi Company car was totally demolished in the accident. Fortunately, the Yellow Cab taxi driver survived with minor injuries. A Yellow Cab spokesperson held a news conference about the accident at the company's headquarters.

John E. Warriner. Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition. Third Course. Liberty Edition. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich. 1986. 7.

Note: the topic of "hyphens" is another thing altogether with its own rules for all kinds of compound words--nouns, verbs, etc. These rules often apply to compounds not found in a dictionary.

Parts of speech

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