Talk:future

Future as an English adjective

I think that at future#Adjective, Future is a noun, as part of a compound noun, in this sense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective#Other_modifiers_of_nouns

I would like to ask people's point of view about this, because

1. I do remember having read some (not widely accepted?) grammar interpretation as such modifiers — while actually nouns — being interpreted/defined as an adjective;

2. in the 1908 citation this was my future home, future appears to be a noun (modifying home), but do correct me if it is an adjective, where future would disambiguate the term futuristic. The former would mean of the future, whereas the latter is typically used in the more narrow sense of technologically very advanced/of the far future;

3. something I'm overlooking.

Bottom line is that I think that future is a noun, not an adjective. If you agree, and also think that 1 and 2 are not relevant, I will move it under noun (either between 3 and 4 as a separate meaning, or I move the quote to 1, maybe). Hulten (talk) 13:17, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

I think you're right. Misidentifying attributive nouns as adjectives is one of our more common errors. There are ways to test for true adjectives (can you say "very future"), but it's complicated. Chuck Entz (talk) 14:40, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

OED has it as an adjective. I think that the word is understoodto be an adjective as well as a noun and that this isn't just a case of attributive use, though it may be reinterpreted as such nowadays. After all, the word is derived from a Latin participle, a fact that would not have been lost on the people who originally borrowed this into English (who presumably, having borrowed the term, understood its Latin meaning and part of speech). — Kleio (t · c) 22:07, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

Alternative form of futures

What does "alternative form" exactly imply? --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:47, 18 October 2019 (UTC)