[Grammar] Is it allowed to use double plural "warnings lists" constrtuction

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bungynik

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Is there a rule which indicate that this is not proper?

Example: The dialog window contains warnings lists about the aplication execution
 

BobK

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I don't undertand. Does the user need to be told they're 'lists'. The software engineer may think it's pretty cool, but that's no reason to bother the user with it. They are just 'warnings' - aren't they?

b

PS It's 'application'. And again, why does the user have to be bothered with this stuff? Doesn't 'The software displays information in the dialog box' do the job? (Come to that, if they are 'warnings' is there anything the user can do about them? Maybe that answers my first question: one list is of system errors, and one is of user errors...?) Incidentally, the term 'dialog box' is pretty standard. In the terms of Microsoft Windows , it's not a 'window' (you can't expand it to full screen, you can't change the size, and you can't shrink it to an icon).
 
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bungynik

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It is not for the end user. This is for the internal communication document. I am pretty much aware of everything else you wrote, but I still don't have answer to my question - whether it is grammatically correct or not.

Thanks for your answer anyway
 

billmcd

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Is there a rule which indicate that this is not proper?

Example: The dialog window contains warnings lists about the application execution

If there are multiple lists and multiple warnings on each list, it's OK. But I would prefer, ".....contains lists of warnings.....".
 

SoothingDave

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I would use "warning list" even if there is more than one warning.
 

emsr2d2

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I guess it depends on whether or not one such list would be referred to as a "warnings list". In my previous job, we had something called the "warnings index". If there was more than one, they would have been the "warnings indices". If it's generally called a "warnings list" in your terminology, then I would say that "warnings lists" is OK (if indeed you need to say "list" at all). If it's normally a "warning list" then the plural would be "warning lists".
 

BobK

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It is not for the end user. This is for the internal communication document. I am pretty much aware of everything else you wrote, but I still don't have answer to my question - whether it is grammatically correct or not.

Thanks for your answer anyway

:I-| I didn't say 'end user'. Anyone who has to work with this stuff (rather than working on the development of this stuff) is a user.

But if you choose to ignore my 20 years of experience as a technical writer (before I became a teacher), that's fine. For what it's worth, I agree with whoever suggested 'lists of warnings'.

b
 

bungynik

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:I-|
But if you choose to ignore my 20 years of experience as a technical writer (before I became a teacher), that's fine. For what it's worth, I agree with whoever suggested 'lists of warnings'.

b

I didn't have intention to ignore or to sound like I'm going to ignore. But the problem is that we have more or less defined communication standard that we have to fit within

I'm really grateful for the help I was given in this forum
 
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