What about the "trouser press"? Shouldn't it be plural according
to Quirk [A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman,
1985]? Or is that form in use because it existed before the “transition”
moved in?
Helen Tooke
hctooke@tin.it
“Trouser press” seems to follow the traditional rule of a
singular adjective. Still, “trousers” is a word that doesn't
normally have a singular form, like pants, shorts, slacks, and jeans—but
look how inconsistent: we have “pants hangers” and “slack
hangers.” We'd say “Put your sweaters in the sweater drawer
and your shorts in the shorts drawer.”
Tell your students that the English language is not always consistent.
There's a rule for this feature of noun modifiers, but the rule is changing,
as language does. You might remind them of the inconsistencies of English
spelling and pronunciation, too, which they have no doubt already noticed.