Not a Compound Adjective

Usually when I write about compound adjectives, I use one (or more) as an example. Here’s a good example of a pair of adjectives that do not make a compound! Headlines are often incorrect, but this time they got it reasonably right. I ran into this headline recently (mid-July 2020) in the local paper:

No mask mandate in Pocatello, at least for now

As written, this means “no mandate regarding masks…” because the adjectives don’t modify each other; they both modify the noun “mandate.” (Yes, “mask” is really a noun. It’s being used as an adjective. We call this using the noun attributively, and if you can, avoid doing it, but you may when you don’t cause any ambiguity. I think this sentence is just ambiguous enough to justify a Writing Rag article about compound adjectives.)

Let’s make it a compound adjective:

No-mask mandate in Pocatello, at least for now

This would be referring to a mandate about requiring no masks! Politically, at least, this has quite a different meaning!

Pay attention to your commas!

PS—Here’s a correct sentence that uses both kinds of adjectives:

We flew in from New Zealand on a Hercules military ski-equipped aircraft.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/john-priscu-finds-life-in-antarcticas-frozen-lakes-20200720/

“Military” and ski-equipped” are separate adjectives that modify “aircraft.” If such things as military skis exist, and he were referring to them, we would have gotten two hyphens: “military-ski-equipped.”