sentence patterns - What is the word that denotes the words preceding these nouns?


What word describes/denotes the words that precede vision in the following two words: computer vision and machine vision?



Answer



The word I hear most is noun adjective, while attributive noun and noun adjunct sound equally appropriate and current. I have never heard noun premodifier, though it sounds technically correct. I might prefer adjectival noun myself despite Wikipedia's reservations. A noun adjective is always a modifier, but not the other way around: modifier is a correct but less specific term.


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While Ngrams are mere (defective) statistics and ultimately cannot support any such assertion, they may, when taken with a big lump of 'sea salt,' give readers some indication.


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