Words associated with Nouns... Collective Nouns?

[Niall]

Hi, i was wondering, in language, if there is a word for a word assiociated to a noun in the following way:

a bolt of cloth
a pane of glass
a sheet of paper

I would be tempted to call this the collective noun.
But seeing as in essence, I am not describing a group or collection of things, I don't believe that calling this the collective noun would be entirely correct.

Thanks
Niall

[curmudgeon]

to my mind they are all nouns. 'Bolt of cloth', 'pane of glass' and 'sheet of paper'

[Niall]

yes. there is no controversy over them being nouns.
I was more wondering if there was a name for the "bolt of" part of the noun.

[Mordant]

A wunch of bankers was one of my favourites but now we are getting to collective nouns, sorry!

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Niall

Hi, i was wondering, in language, if there is a word for a word assiociated to a noun in the following way:

a bolt of cloth
a pane of glass
a sheet of paper

I would be tempted to call this the collective noun.
But seeing as in essence, I am not describing a group or collection of things, I don't believe that calling this the collective noun would be entirely correct.

Thanks
Niall

How about 'a constitutive collocation'? I've never met a special word for it, but if pressed I'd give that a whirl!

b

[curmudgeon]

Michael Swan mentions it in noun+noun:advanced points.
n+n is normally used to say what things are made of; a silk dress, a stone bridge, an iron rod. So... a glass pane, a paper sheet. a cloth bolt.

In older English the of structure was more common but is still used today (as in your examples)


A rod of iron, a bridge of stone, a dress of silk etc.

I personally am not about to lose sleep over it.