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

See also:

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 (earphones, blackboard).

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)

See also:

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. awell-knownsinger, anangry-soundingemail)

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.

See also:

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.

See also:

Clauses: coordinated

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