Employee Name List

[Ducklet Cat]

Hello,

We say:
Employee Name List
and
Employee List

Why?
Since we have many employees with many names, why don't we say:

Employee Names List
or
Employees Names List

 

[5jj]

We say:
Employee Name List
and
Employee List

Why?I don't,

Since we have many employees with many names, actually, most employees don't have many names; most have a surname and one or two given names. why don't we say:

Employee Names List
or
Employees Names List

We can say pretty well anything we like. I'd be inclined to call it a List of Employees.

 

[Barb_D]

I think you can assume that any list of employees will have their names. It's unnecessarily wordy to say that the list is a list of names. If would be the assumption. If it were a list of positions or departments, then the name of the list should say that. Otherwise "Employee List" is good enough for me.

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Thanks fivejedjon and Barb_D.

That was just an example that came to my mind, But sometimes we do have to mention the three words. For example, If we have a lot if Mining companies, and we want to refer to the managers of these companies:

Mining Company Managers

A few years back, I wrote something like:
Mining Companies Managers
But one of my teachers said this is wrong, and company here works en lieu of adjective. :-|

So, I do appreciate if someone can shed more light on this.

 

[Barb_D]

Usually -- not always, but usually -- nouns used to modify other nouns are in the singular.

Shoe store
Coin collecting
Employee list
Teacher lounge

I can't tell you that using the plural is in some way horribly grammatically incorrect. It just doesn't reflect the way we usually do things.

(There are a number of exceptions to this generalization.Sports stadium, etc.)

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Thanks.

1. Is it wrong to say Coins collecting, and teachers lounge? Or is it just preferable to have it in singular?

2. Is "Sports Stadium" in plural because many types of sports are exercised in the stadium? Or this is the usual way for saying it?
Any other such exceptions.

Thanks again.

 

[5jj]

1. Is it wrong to say Coins collecting Yes, and teachers lounge?No

2. Is "Sports Stadium" i[STRIKE]n[/STRIKE] plural because many types of sports are exercised in the stadium? No
Or this is the usual way [STRIKE]for[/STRIKE] to say[STRIKE]ing [/STRIKE]it? Yes

5

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks fivejedjon and Barb_D.

That was just an example that came to my mind, But sometimes we do have to mention the three words. For example, If we have a lot if Mining companies, and we want to refer to the managers of these companies:

Mining Company Managers

A few years back, I wrote something like:
Mining Companies Managers
But one of my teachers said this is wrong, and company here works en lieu of adjective. :-|

So, I do appreciate if someone can shed more light on this.

It could be ambiguous to use "Companies" in your example as what you might be saying is that it's a list of people who are the managers of more than one mining company each.

Mining Company Managers
John Smith (manages Company A)
Bob Thomas (manages Company B)
Sarah Hill (manages Company C)

Mining Companies Managers
John Smith (manages Companies A & B)
Bob Thomas (manages Company C)
Sarah Hill (manages Companies D, E, F & G)

I have exaggerated things a little here but that's my only problem with it. As Barb said, we simply usually use the collective (singular) noun.

Another example - there are several thousand children between the ages of 11 and 18 in New York. They each attend high school but of course they don't all attend the same one. They are collectively known as "high school students" not "high schools students" even though between them, they attend many different high schools. Each one is a student who attends high school.

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Thank you fivejedjon.

Thank you emsr2d2. Please let me elaborate on something:

Mining Company Managers
It could also mean that we are talking about one single company which has many managers (financial manager, HR manager ..etc)

I mean, also in singular it could give a false meaning. =)

But I guess this is part of how ambiguous all languages can be.

Have a nice day.