What number bus should I take to get there?

[Hansman]

What number bus should I take to get there?
Is the sentence correct in grammar and meaning?

I have learned that the front noun modifies the back noun in noun + noun like the bus stop, the [bus] [stop], a sleeping bag, a [sleeping] [bag], etc.
If the noun phrase what number bus is correct, does the noun phrase what number modify the noun bus?

I know that there are many examples of noun + noun like English book, credit card, bus stop, etc and then, are there examples of noun phrase + noun?

 

[tedmc]

It sounds correct and natural to me.

What number (which) bus should I take to get there?

"What number" does modify "bus" in an unusual way.

 

[Annabel Lee]

If the noun phrase what number bus is correct, does the noun phrase what number modify the noun bus?

I know that there are many examples of noun + noun like English book, credit card, bus stop, etc and then, are there examples of noun phrase + noun?

In The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (pages 910-911), What size shoes in What size shoes do you take? (analogous to What number bus in What number bus should I take?) is analyzed as a noun phrase containing two determiners, What functioning as a determiner in relation to size, and What size as a determiner in relation to shoes.

 

[Tarheel]

It's a common sentence that is probably used every day. It's just like saying, "Which bus should I take?"

 

[Annabel Lee]

It's just like saying, "Which bus should I take?"

Grammatically, however, it's just like saying, "Which number bus should I take?," which is much more complicated.

 

[5jj]

Grammatically, however, it's just like saying, "Which number bus should I take?," which is much more complicated.

If it's just like that, how can it be more complicated?

 

[jutfrank]

Annabel Lee means that 'which number bus' is grammatically more complicated than 'which bus'.

 

[emsr2d2]

Bear in mind that not all buses have numbers. Some of our local buses have letters instead. Therefore, "Which bus should I take?" allows for all possible responses.

 

[5jj]

Annabel Lee means that 'which number bus' is grammatically more complicated than 'which bus'.

Then it is not grammatically just like it.

 

[jutfrank]

Then it is not grammatically just like it.

'Which number bus' is grammatically just like 'what number bus'.

 

[Annabel Lee]

Then it is not grammatically just like it.

By saying “Grammatically, however,” I meant to contrast the grammar, or syntax, of the OP’s construction with its meaning, or use value, which Tarheel had drawn attention to, using a distinctly simpler grammatical construction than the one the OP had used.