Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Premodifying: coordination and hyphenation

141b

Premodifiers are often coordinated in academic styles, thus avoiding repetition of

the noun head:

(noun phrases in green, coordinated premodifiers in bold type)

For both 

normal and oblique incidence

, 

the 

stochastic and deterministic

theories 

are equivalent in the limit of long propagation distances.

(compare with the uncoordinated alternative: For normal incidence and

oblique incidence, …)

268 | Grammar and academic English

Cambridge Grammar of English

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… and that sole parents and disability support pensioners should be required

to demonstrate some form of 

social or economic participation 

in return for

receiving income support.

Hyphenated compound adjectives are frequent, and these also contribute to the

integration and condensation of information. They often reflect the condensation

of a noun and its complement phrase:

(noun phrases in green, hyphenated premodifiers in bold type)

Spiral galaxies have 

a 

disc-like appearance

, with 

distinct

, 

spiral-shaped arms

on which most of the stars reside. 

(compare the noun-complement alternative: Spiral galaxies have an

appearance similar to a disc, with distinct arms in the shape of a spiral on

which most of the stars reside.)

These unusual outcomes have a number of 

policy-relevant implications

for

sustainable development.

(compare: … a number of implications (which are) relevant to policy for

sustainable development.)