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    What Will I Learn From Grammar Lesson On Compound Nouns?

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    A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words. There are three forms for compound nouns: open/spaced, hyphenated, and closed/solid. Compound nouns can be made from different combinations of words like noun+noun, adjective+noun, verb+noun, etc. The plural form of compound nouns is usually made by adding -s to the base word, which is usually the most significant word. There are some variations in plural forms depending on the specific compound noun. Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word.

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    What Will I Learn From Grammar Lesson On Compound Nouns?

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    A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words. There are three forms for compound nouns: open/spaced, hyphenated, and closed/solid. Compound nouns can be made from different combinations of words like noun+noun, adjective+noun, verb+noun, etc. The plural form of compound nouns is usually made by adding -s to the base word, which is usually the most significant word. There are some variations in plural forms depending on the specific compound noun. Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word.

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    A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words. There are three forms for compound nouns: open/spaced, hyphenated, and closed/solid. Compound nouns can be made from different combinations of words like noun+noun, adjective+noun, verb+noun, etc. The plural form of compound nouns is usually made by adding -s to the base word, which is usually the most significant word. There are some variations in plural forms depending on the specific compound noun. Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word.

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    What Will I Learn From Grammar Lesson On Compound Nouns?

    Uploaded by

    Irina MB
    A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words. There are three forms for compound nouns: open/spaced, hyphenated, and closed/solid. Compound nouns can be made from different combinations of words like noun+noun, adjective+noun, verb+noun, etc. The plural form of compound nouns is usually made by adding -s to the base word, which is usually the most significant word. There are some variations in plural forms depending on the specific compound noun. Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word.

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    What will I learn from grammar lesson on compound

    nouns?
    What are compound nouns?

    a compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words. Have a look at these
    examples:

    • weekday (noun + noun)


    • raincoat (noun + noun)
    • chopstick (noun + noun)

    Compound nouns can also be made using the following


    A compound noun can not only be made by adding 2 nouns together, but can be
    made by adding 2 words together to make one word. 

    Examples of compound nouns 


    noun + noun   policeman       motorcycle   firefighter
    noun + verb   sunrise   haircut   milkshake
    verb + noun   breakfast   cookbook  rainfall       
    adjective + noun   blackboard   software         hotdog
    adverb + noun   on-looker   downtime   overtime
    adverb + verb   input   output   upswing
      preposition + verb   output   undercut   downfall

    What if am unsure if it is a compound noun?


    If you are unsure if is a compound noun look it up using a dictionary.
    Compound Nouns
    A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A
    compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are
    other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and recognize
    compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be
    modified by adjectives and other nouns.

    There are three forms for compound nouns:

    1. open or spaced - space between words (tennis shoe)


    2. hyphenated - hyphen between words (six-pack)
    3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words (bedroom)

    Here are some examples of compound nouns:

    noun + noun bus stop Is this the bus stop for the number 12


    bus?

    fire-fly In the tropics you can see fire-flies at


    night.

    football Shall we play football today?

    adjective + noun full moon I always feel crazy at full moon.

    blackboard Clean the blackboard please.

    software I can't install this software on my PC.


    verb(-ing) + noun breakfast We always eat breakfast at 8am.

    washing Put the clothes in the red washing


    machine machine.

    swimming What a beautiful swimming pool!


    pool

    noun + verb(-ing) sunrise I like to get up at sunrise.

    haircut You need a haircut.

    train-spotting His hobby is train-spotting.

    verb + preposition check-out Please remember that check-out is at


    12 noon.

    noun + prepositional mother-in- My mother-in-law lives with us.


    phrase law

    prepositio + noun underworld Do you think the police accept money


    n from the underworld?

    noun + adjective truckful We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.


    Pronunciation
    Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word. In the phrase
    "pink ball", both words are equally stressed (as you know, adjectives and
    nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun "golf ball", the first word is
    stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are always
    stressed). Since "golf ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a single
    noun and so it has a single main stress - on the first word. Stress is important
    in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody said "a
    GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is painted green) or "a GREENhouse" (a
    building made of glass for growing plants inside).

    British/American differences
    Different varieties of English, and even different writers, may use the open,
    hyphenated or closed form for the same compound noun. It is partly a matter
    of style. There are no definite rules. For example we can find:

     container ship
     container-ship
     containership

    If you are not sure which form to use, please check in a good dictionary.

    Plural Forms of Compound Nouns


    In general we make the plural of a compound noun by adding -s to the "base
    word" (the most "significant" word). Look at these examples:

    singular plural

    a tennis shoe three tennis shoes

    one assistant headmaster five assistant headmasters


    singular plural

    the sergeant major some sergeants major

    a mother-in-law two mothers-in-law

    an assistant secretary of three assistant secretaries of state


    state

    my toothbrush our toothbrushes

    a woman-doctor four women-doctors

    a doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophy

    a passerby, a passer-by two passersby, two passers-by

    Note that there is some variation with words like spoonful or truckful. The old
    style was to say spoonsful or trucksful for the plural. Today it is more usual to
    say spoonfuls or truckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style
    (spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be consistent in your
    choice. Here are some examples:
      old style plural (very formal) new style plural

    teaspoonfu 3 teaspoonsful of sugar 3 teaspoonfuls of sugar


    l

    truckful 5 trucksful of sand 5 truckfuls of sand

    bucketful 2 bucketsful of water 2 bucketfuls of water

    cupful 4 cupsful of rice 4 cupfuls of rice

    Some compound nouns have no obvious base word and you may need to
    consult a dictionary to find the plural:

     higher-ups
     also-rans
     go-betweens
     has-beens
     good-for-nothings
     grown-ups

    Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the first noun is like an
    adjective and therefore does not usually take an -s. A tree that has apples has
    many apples, but we say an apple tree, not apples
    tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush.

    With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the second noun takes an -s for
    plural. The first noun acts like an adjective and as you know, adjectives in
    English are invariable. Look at these examples:
    long plural form becomes plural compound noun
    → [noun + noun]

    100 trees with apples 100 apple trees

    1,000 cables for telephones 1,000 telephone cables

    20 boxes for tools 20 tool boxes

    10 stops for buses 10 bus stops

    4,000 wheels for cars 4,000 car wheels

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