rbetting,

Some great examples, but I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.  By "to manipulate form words into other parts of speech," are you referring to shifts of closed class items like prepositions or conjunctions to other parts of speech or was this the sort of rapid compositional error I make a lot of, where you meant one of the two verbs, manipulate or form, but forgot to delete the other?  If you meant rather that "form" is a noun modifying "words", form words, like prepositions, conjunctions, and determiners, very rarely shift word class, unlike content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, and most adverbs), which can shift fairly readily.  Form words are more commonly called function words.

You answer your own question about calling a modifying noun and adjective by calling them "nouns used as modifiers."  That makes the necessary form/function distinction.  Such a noun is a noun, but it's functioning as a modifier.  That doesn't make it an adjective.  Your examples, however, would generally be treated as compound nouns, not as phrasal constructions.  Notice that "British English" has two primary stresses, but "stocking committee planning chart" has only one.  That's a fairly good marker of the difference between  a noun phrase and a compound noun.  An interesting example that shows some variation in how speakers analyze it is whether one pronounces TV with the stress pattern of ID or of Stevie.  For speakers with the former pattern, TV is an initialism; for the latter it's a compound or perhaps simply a new simplex noun.

As to what makes sense to students, I don't think I would raise issues like this until some bright student asks why "form" in "form word" is a noun if it's modifying another noun.  Then would be a good time to introduce the form/function distinction.  But I'm not a high school teacher and I'm reluctant to make pedagogical suggestions to those who know that age-group much better than I do.

I fear I missed what you were getting at with your last remark, about grammar.  Sorry to be dense, but there's a leap here I didn't make as I read.

Herb,

Comments on noun functions. Does calling nouns used this way adjective make
sense to students? Our linguistic system likes to be able to manipulate form
words into other parts of speech, nouns to verbs and so on. One choice that
appears to be handy is our use of nouns as modifiers, as in "the stocking
committee planning chart" or "a fan belt compression fitting design plan."
So we might hear of a "site plan coordination effort currently underway." I
just read about the " 2007 Devils Lake operation summary report document."
How's this: "The linear realignment task force control system planning
session." That could apply to grammar study.

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