Talk:Substantive

Removed text
The following are not valid Dab entries, and probably not possible to fix:
 * * a matter of substance as opposed to a matter of procedure
 * *something that exists in its own right
 * *In biochemistry, the ability of chemicals to be retained by skin or hair
 * *In diplomacy, matters or fields of greater importance (in contrast to ancillary issues)

In particular they are dictdefs rather than existing articles plus info needed to help users recognize the one they want, and their topics probably will always be unworthy of respective WP articles. In addition, it should be noted that altho a Dab pg is often enhanced by a Wikt lk to the title of the pg or a misspelling or inflection of that word, Dabs may not have Wikt lks either within the entries nor to words that have meanings similar or contrasting to the title. --Jerzy•t 18:00, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Partial Title Matches
The only thing I found about Partial Title Matches was at |WP:D, and the situation here looks more like a "Mississippi"-type example than a "Zoo"-type example. Searching for "substantive", how I found this page looking for substantive adjective, could cause confusion if the page redirects to a weak subsection of the noun article. Sabrebattletank (talk) 20:30, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The guideline I was referring to is that found in the "Examples of individual entries that should not be created" section of WP:MOSDAB here. This guideline states:
 * "On a page called Title, do not create entries merely because Title is part of the name."
 * and
 * "The above does not apply if the subject is commonly referred to simply by Title."
 * Partial title matches are not acceptable on disambiguation pages. Substantive adjectives are not referred to as 'substantives', therefore Substantive adjective is inappropriate as an entry here. Sabrebattletank's statement that Substantive adjective "looks more like a "Mississippi"-type example than a "Zoo"-type example" is not correct. The Mississippi River is often referred to simply as the Mississippi; that is what keeps it from being a partial title match on Mississippi (disambiguation). The same is not true of Substantive adjective. Neelix (talk) 03:36, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, substantive adjectives are commonly referred to as "substantive". That's why I reverted it and why I added the "substantive adjective" part in the first place -- precisely because a substantive adjective is commonly referred to as a 'substantive'. If you look at merriam-webster 's definition, you'll see that 'substantive' functions perfectly fine on its own, with substantive adjective as a common meaning. Sabrebattletank (talk) 04:13, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I also think it's clearly a lot easier when the subject is a place, so I understand the confusion. However, to say that "substantive" is not commonly used to mean "substantive adjective" is untrue.Sabrebattletank (talk) 04:25, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you for providing a source to establish that substantive adjectives are referred to as substantives. That source, however, states that all words or word groups which function syntactically as nouns are referred to as substantives. Reading the "Substantive as a word for noun" section of the Noun article, this is what is already entailed. The last sentence in the section states that "Hence, these words are substantives that are usually adjectives in English." The section even links to the section on the Adjective article which discusses substantive adjectives. Disambiguation pages are supposed to list articles on disparate subjects which happen to be referred to by the same term, not articles on related subjects which are grouped together under the same heading. Redirecting Substantive to the "Substantive as a word for noun" section on the Noun article is still the best option, unless someone would like to develop it into its own article (not disambiguation page). Neelix (talk) 13:18, 11 February 2010 (UTC)