Nouns Used As Adjective

It's very common to use nouns as adjectives by putting them before other nouns (in 'attributive' position). E.g. car door, cheese pie, disc box, table leg, ring finger. Note the following: 

1. It's not always possible to put 2 nouns together in this way. Sometimes it's necessary to use the construction with 'of' (E.g. a loaf of bread, not *a bread loaf) or the possessive (E.g. a miner's lamp, not *a miner lamp). 
2. When two nouns are used together like this, they are sometimes written as one word, especially when the words are short and the expression is very common (e.g. raincoat, housework). In other cases, hyphens are used (e.g. grave-digger), or the words are written separate4ly (e.g. bicycle chain). Expressions like these are often (but not always) pronounced with the main stress on the first nouns: 'raincoat, housework, 'table leg, shoe-repairer, but apple tart, garden gate. There are no very clear rules about the writing or pronunciation of these combinations: look in the dictionary for information about particular expressions. 
3. When a noun is used as an adjective before another noun, it is almost always singular (even if the meaning is plural). People who repair shoes are called shoe-repairers; people who sell houses are called house agents; packets that you put cigarettes in are called cigarette packets; a brush for teeth is a toothbrush. Plural expressions with numbers also become singular when they are used as adjectives. Compare the following: Five pound > A five-pound note, Ten miles > A ten-mile walk, Three men > A three men-man expedition, Ninepence > A nine-penny stamp
4. Note the use of the ending -ed to turn nouns into adjective in certain expressions. In these cases, the meaning is similar to 'with' or 'having'. Examples: Wheeled transport, A one-eyed sailor A broad-shoulder, Blue-chinned truck-driver...
5. There are some pairs of nouns and adjectives (e.g. gold, golden) which can both be used as adjectives with different meanings. Examples: A god watch > Golden memories, Silk stockings > Silken skin, A lead pipe > leaden sky (= grey and depressing), A stone roof > A stoney silence (= Unsympathetic) 

Adjectives with nouns

 

Using an adjective alone is not usually possible, instead of adjective + noun. You cannot say *Hello, my little, or *You poor! However, there are some cases in which it is possible to use an adjective alone. 

In informal conversation, we often drop the noun in situations where we are choosing between two or more varieties. If you ask for photos to be developed, the assistant will probably say 'Matt or gloss?', not 'Mat or gloss paper?' 

Other examples: 

'Pint of milk, please.' - 'I've only got sterilized.'

We've just bought a new car. It's an automatic. 

Twenty full-length, please. (a kind of cigarette)

'Three pints of bitter.' - 'Best or ordinary?'

Some adjectives are used so often in this way that they have really turned into nouns. People always say bitter, never *bitter been, in detective stories, we usually read about an automatic, rather than an automatic pistol. 

Superlative adjectives are often used with nouns. 

Examples: 

I'm the oldest in my family. 

'Which one shall I get?' - 'The cheapest.' 

'Determiner' like this, both, either are often used without a following noun...

Certain adjectives can be used with the definite article to talk about group of people. 

Examples: 

He's collecting money for the blind. 

The unemployed are losing hope. 

These expressions have a plural meaning: the dead means 'the dead people' or 'all dead people', but not 'the dead man'. There are not very many expressions of this kind in English. The most common are: 

the blind    the deaf    the sick    the mentally ill    the handicapped    the poor    the unemployed    the old    the dead     the rich 

Most other adjectives cannot be used in this way. For example, you cannot normally say *the foreign, *the happy or *the disgusting in order to refer groups of people. 

Some adjectives of nationality can be used in the same way. They are words ending in -sh or -ch: British, Iris, Welsh, English, Scotch, Spanish, Dutchy, French. 

The British are very proud of their sense of humor. 

These expressions are plural: the British means 'all (the) British people'. One person from Britain can't be called *a British; one person from Ireland is an Irishman, not *an Irish. Note that people Scotland prefer to be called Scots or Scottish, not Scotch. Nationality words ending in -ese can also be used like this (the Japanese; the Lebanese). However, these words (and Swiss) are really nouns...

In philosophical writing, adjectives are often used with 'the' to refer to general abstract ideas. These expressions are singular...

Examples: 

The beautiful is not always the same as the good. 

The word 'own' is often used without a following noun (singular or plural). 

For example, I don't need your friends. I've got my own. 

In talking about trials, the accused is often used instead of the accused person/people.