Letters, I Get Letters

I love hearing from people who read Verbatim. I try to reply to every comment I get, and some of these email exchanges wind up fascinating and fun and heart-warming.

I also frequently get emails directly from my readers, sometimes because they are too shy to leave comments. I got one recently that said:

I just stumbled across your blog and wanted to tell you that I don’t know you but I like you.
Michelle
P.S. Did that sound stalker-y? Not meant that way.

Or, sometimes, a reader wants to talk about something not specifically related to any blog post. For instance, here's an email I got a couple of weeks ago:

My colleague and I have a disagreement that I would like you to solve. In the following sentence, is the word "fall" an adjective or a noun?

The fall colors were beautiful today.

I replied as follows:

In that sentence, "fall" is a noun that functions as an adjective. Such nouns are sometimes called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts. Other examples: chicken sandwich, baseball game, piano lesson, grapefruit juice, luggage rack, pencil case, baby carriage, etc. etc.

(The reader won her bet.)

You can wake up now! I'm done talking about grammar.

Comments

[jwg]

Shouldn't it be Fall colors. And isn't that a proper noun?

[Karen]

No, the names of the seasons are not capitalized, unless you're citing the issue of a journal or magazine (like, the Summer 2008 issue) or being poetic.

[Di]

Not to be all picky, but I think in that context "fall" should be capitalized.