[Grammar] Language analysis help needed please

[Zoya VanWyk]

Hi, I'd be grateful if you could help me clarify the following:

1. An approach Europe (noun+noun - why can we use two nouns together, without the first one modifying the second one. Is it because one is a proper noun?

2. "Far from gouging consumers, many of their services are free." In this sentence does gouge mean that they dont want to 'cut out' consumers even though their services are free?

3. "It looked outdated in what has come to be called the data economy." Why is there a 'in' between outdated and what? what does "in what" mean?

Thanks so much!

 

[Zoya VanWyk]

1. We need a full sentence before we can comment on this. There's probably an understood relative pronoun after 'approach', but, without context, that can only be a guess.

2. See definition 3 here.

3. Think of 'what' as 'the thing that'

Thank you so much for your help.

As for the first sentence, here it is:
They could also mandate the sharing of certain kinds of dara, with users' consent - an approach Europe is taking in financial services by requiring banks to make customers' data accesible to third parties.

 

[Zoya VanWyk]

Thank you so much!

In the sentence, “Old ways of thinking about competition, devised in the era of oil, look outdated in what has come to be called the “data economy”. A new approach is needed.”
[FONT=新細明體][/FONT]Not sure my understanding is correct “…., look outdated” My understanding is it could be a completed sentence already even without the sub clause; “in what has come….”. Is the sub clause some sort of advert clauses which just gives more information about why it look outdated? Sorry am I understanding it correctly?

Then for noun usage, I understand that some nouns modify each other, but sometimes I'm not sure which structure is right and why? For example:

Room reservation or reservation of room - Actually, I think only the first one is grammatically correct.
[FONT=新細明體][/FONT]The development process or the process of development - both ways can be used, right?
[FONT=新細明體][/FONT]Wire line or wire-line or wired line (ex. coreless phone) - ?
[FONT=新細明體][/FONT]Schedule confirmation or the confirmation of schedule - ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

 

[teechar]

I find post #5 difficult to read and follow. Please click Edit to tidy it up (remove unnecessary text), and provide example sentences for your follow-up questions.