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"A set of tools" can alternatively be written as "a tool set" (or toolset), but "a tools set" sounds very unnatural.

The same can be said of a number of other examples: "a book pile" vs "a books pile", "a paper stack" vs "a papers stack", etc.

  • Why is this the case? Why is "a tool set" correct but not "a tools set"?
  • What is the name of this kind of grammatical structure?
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    Probably in "a tool set" the word "tool" is used as an adjective. In English, adjectives are not inflected. I think if you look in the forum, you will find other variants of this question: "shoe store" or "shoes store" ... "basketball court" or "basketballs court" ... "bicycle path" or "bicycles path". – GEdgar Aug 11 '20 at 23:17
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_adjunct – Gary Botnovcan Aug 11 '20 at 23:38
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    You said yourself that "a tools set" sounds very unnatural. I daresay people have always felt the same way, and if something sounded unnatural it got dropped. An ewt became a newt. – Old Brixtonian Aug 11 '20 at 23:43
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    Yes. the default is to not inflect, and there are a lot of similar questions here already. There are a few cases where it is normally plural or can optionally be made plural, usually to emphasize you are talking about different types of things, not just several of one type of thing. Parts store, drinks dispenser, funds repository, sports complex. – Phil Sweet Aug 12 '20 at 09:51
  • @GaryBotnovcan Thanks, that's the answer I was looking for. Unfortunately I can't mark a comment as an accepted answer. –  Aug 12 '20 at 14:21
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    Does this answer your question? Is there a rule for forming plural compound nouns? The examination of the underlying rationale (why [N+N] compound nouns rarely have the attributive in plural form, and why this rule of thumb is gradually relaxing) needs a PhD thesis. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 12 '20 at 14:55
  • See also Colin Fine's answer at plural nouns in nominal compounds. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 12 '20 at 15:09

1 Answers1

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It's simply because "tool set" is compound noun, and you may have multiple tools but you only have one tool set. In exactly the same way that toothbrush is correct and teethbrush isn't.

JeffUK
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  • I've got several toolsets. The 'explanation' here is that [N+N] compounds, especially solid compounds, rarely have the premodifying 'ex-noun' inflected. This has been answered many times on ELU. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 12 '20 at 14:51
  • @EdwinAshworth we do need a Flag reason for "Asking why English is the way it is" could you flag the question with a specific duplicate? – JeffUK Aug 12 '20 at 14:55
  • This is not a great example as "hair" in that sense is not countable. You can say someone cut a few hairs off, if they were taking a forensic / medical sample for testing, for example, but "hair" alone means, well, the bulk, all of it at once. – Will Crawford Aug 12 '20 at 15:04
  • @WillCrawford good point, teethbrush it is! – JeffUK Aug 12 '20 at 19:57