Compounds
Compound words
A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning:
- tooth + brush = toothbrush
- eco + friendly = eco-friendly
- animal + lover = animal lover
We make compounds in all word classes:
| nouns: car park, soap opera | pronouns: anyone, everything, nobody |
| adjectives: environmentally-friendly, fat-free | numerals: twenty-seven, three-quarters |
| verbs: daydream, dry-clean | prepositions: into, onto |
| adverbs: nevertheless, nowadays | conjunctions: although, however |
- Hyphens
Compound nouns
We usually make compound nouns with a noun + noun, with a verb (or a word made from a verb) + noun, or with an adjective + noun:
| noun + noun: earphones | verb -ing form + noun: parking ticket |
| verb base form + noun: rescue team | adjective + noun: blackboard |
The usual spoken stress pattern is with stress on the first item (ear**phones, black**board).
In a compound noun, we can combine different elements. These include:
- subject + verb: earache (an ear that aches), rainfall (rain that falls)
- verb + subject: cleaning products (products that clean)
- verb + object: know-all (person who thinks they know everything)
- object + verb: shoe-polish (polishes shoes), dishwasher (washes dishes)
- Hyphens
- Noun phrases: order
Compound adjectives
Compound adjectives most commonly end in an adjective (e.g. homesick), or in an -ing or -ed adjective form (e.g. ground-breaking, short-sighted).
Compound verbs
Compound verbs are far less common than compound nouns or adjectives. They can be made by making a verb from another word class, normally from an already existing compound noun (e.g. a daydream – to daydream).
Writing compound words
Sometimes compound words are written separately (nail polish), sometimes with a hyphen (short-sighted) and sometimes as one word (eyelashes). Often new compounds are written as two separate words and, as they become more familiar, they are either connected with a hyphen (-) or made into one word.
There are some general rules and guidelines for when to use hyphens:
- when there is a prefix (e.g. post*-war*, ***pre-***lunch, ***self-***interest, ***semi-***skilled)
- when a compound adjective comes before a head noun (e.g. a well-known singer, an angry-sounding email)
- when the pre-head item in a compound is a single capital letter (e.g. U-turn, X-ray, D-day)
- when words are difficult to recognise as compounds and could be confused
The band has decided to re-form. (form again)
The Government promise to reform the health system. (improve)
- when compound adjectives containing numbers appear before a noun
A twenty-two-year-old cyclist won the race.
From here to Tokyo, that’s a twelve-hour flight at least.
If you’re not sure about whether to use a hyphen, a good dictionary will tell you.
- Hyphens
- Punctuation
Compound sentences
A compound sentence has two or more main clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions, such as and, but:
- [main clause 1] She did a nursing degree [main clause 2] and she did really well, [main clause 3] but she’s decided to study medicine now.
- Clauses: coordinated