conundrum

[Paul B. Gallagher]

John Dunn wrote:

> I am puzzled by this for two reasons.  The first is that I would have
> thought that any noun indicating a substance or object capable of
> being manufactured could be used adjectivally before the word
> factory, e.g.: tractor factory, helicopter factory, sausage factory,
> and hence confectionery factory, pasta factory.

Agreed. But nouns cannot be used with "one" the way adjectives can:
	We built a big, expensive, pasta factory.
	We built a big one, an expensive one, and a *pasta one.

Nor can they be used in this sense as complements:
	We built a big, expensive, pasta factory.
	The factory was big, expensive, and *pasta.

> The second is that when they [are] used as nouns, neither soccer nor
> confectionery is capable of being qualified by an indefinite article,
> and therefore it is surprising that decoding problems arise with
> either sentence;  the indefinite article must here qualify a later
> noun.

For "soccer," I agree, "a soccer" is bad. But for "confectionery," only 
MW's first definition is uncountable; the other two ("sweet foods," "a 
confectioner's shop") are definitely countable.

And what's more, a shop is also buildable; some might say that an 
elaborate confection is "built" as well. ;-) So if we say "to build a 
confectionery and a pasta factory," the reading "to build a 
confectioner's shop and a pasta factory" is perfectly plausible on both 
syntactic and semantic grounds.

Of course, I don't know which of these definitions exist in British 
usage; I only know the American definitions in MW.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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