Words can be combined to
form compound nouns. Most compound nouns contain at least one noun. The other
word or words may be an adjective, preposition, or verb. These are very common, and new
combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts. The first
part tells us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is. The
second part identifies the object or person in question. Compound nouns often
have a meaning that is different, or more specific, than the two separate
words.
Compound
words, a large group of words to which compound nouns belong, are expressed in
three ways.
·
Closed form => has two words that have
joined together to make one word. Sometime it referred to solid compound noun
Ex: football, haircut, makeup, software and
keyboard.
·
Hyphenated form => Connected word with
hyphens
Ex: six-pack,
five-year-old, and son-in-law.
·
Open form => it appears as two separate words. Sometime referred to
spaced compound nouns.
Ex: post office, upper
class, swimming pool and attorney general.
Sometimes,
the hyphen disappears as the word is more widely used, and it becomes a closed
word.
Plural Rules
There are no hard and fast rules concerning
plurals of compound words, especially since some hyphens are omitted after
time.
In hyphenated words,
·
Usually the “s” goes
at the end of the main word
Ex:
daughters-in-law or mayors-elect.
·
Sometimes it is at the
end
Ex:
go-betweens and higher-ups.
In the open form,
·
The “s” is added to
the main word
Ex:
bills of fare, assistant secretaries of state, and notaries public.
Exception:
i. He was found guilty by several courts-martial
ii. He was found guilty by several court-martials
There is ambiguity about
the principal word in court-martial. Both courts-martial and court-martials are
acceptable due to common usage of both terms.
Possessive Rules
·
To make a compound
word possessive you usually add an apostrophe “s” at the end of the word
Example:
- mother-in-law’s car or five-year-old’s birthday.
·
If the compound word
is plural, it can get a little strange with two “s” sounds close together
Example:
- “fathers-in-law’s attire”.
·
If you can, it would
be better to reword the sentence so the plural compound word does not need to
be possessive
Example:
- “The attire of the fathers-in-law.”
·
If both
nouns own the same thing, the apostrophe is placed after the last noun. If both
nouns possess different things, then an apostrophe must be added to each.
Example: -
ü Tom and Sanjai’s assignment will ready to
submit tomorrow. (One report)
ü Tom’s and Sanjai’s assignments will ready to
submit tomorrow. (Two reports)
ü The assignment was Tom and Sanjai’s. (One
report)
ü The assignments were Tom’s and Sanjai’s. (Two
reports)
·
However,
when a personal pronoun (I,
you, he, she, we or they) is involved, there is a
slight difference. You place the apostrophe on the noun only. Personal
possessive pronouns never have an apostrophe as they are already possessive (my, mine, his, hers, ours, yours).
Note: The noun comes first.
Example: -
ü Tom’s and my assignment will ready to submit
tomorrow.
ü The assignment is his and mine. (Never use an
apostrophe with a possessive personal pronoun.)
ü The assignment is Tom’s and hers.
ü The assignment is Tom’s and mine. (The noun
is always placed first.)
Types of compound nouns formation
I.
Compound nouns can
be made with two nouns (noun + noun).
Examples:
§ I wait for the bus at
this bus stop.
§ Japan will introduce the
energy saving motorcycle very soon.
§ I love watching fireflies on
warm summer nights.
§ While you’re at the shop,
please pick up some toothpaste and some egg
rolls.
§ Surya still maintain his
body as six-pack.
II.
Compound nouns can be made with a noun and a
verb (noun + verb).
Example:
§ She got up at sunrise.
§ He is always very particular about
his haircut.
§
More rain fell in that week than the region's rainfall for
the entire year.
§ I really could use an updated hairstyle.
§ Bambarakanda is a largest waterfall in Srilanka.
III.
Compound nouns can be made with a noun and a prepositional phrase (noun
+ prepositional phrase).
Example:
§ My mother-in-law is the kindest
person I know.
§ I ride bike with my brother-in-law.
§ She drank three cups of tea per day.
§ Kumar
and Ravi go to the trip.
IV.
Compound nouns can be made with a verb and
noun (verb + noun).
Example:
§ She bought a washing machine yesterday.
§ Raja has a swimming pool in his house.
§ I lost my driving license in the market.
§ We ate dinner in the dining-table.
§ The breakwater tamed the waves and provided
a safe bathing area.
V.
Compound nouns can be made with a verb and a preposition (verb +
preposition).
Example:
§ In our company checkout time is after 6’o clock.
§ She often goes to check-up at hospital.
§ We had had a lot of media interest in
our love-in but this is a total shock.
§ He was a hanger-on who used to come around and drink with Father.
§ Youngsters stood near the road, bearing
small boxes to collect coins from passers-by.
§ I had to find out a lots of drawback in that manual system.
VI.
Compound nouns can be made with an adjective
and a noun (adjective + noun).
Example:
§ Some people go to beach in full moon day.
§ Teacher said to me, “please
erase the blackboard.
§ Most of the software reduce the human works.
§ Several plants are grown in
to the greenhouse.
§ The second full moon of the same month is called blue moon.
VII.
Compound
noun can be made with adjective and verb (adjective + verb).
Example:
§ The dust is removed by the method of dry-cleaning.
§ He was famous about the public speaking.
§
He views that season as the highlight of his career.
VIII.
Compound noun can be made with an adjective
and an adjective (adjective + adjective).
Example:
§ She was dressed in a uniform of hot pink, blue,
and a lightest blue-green.
IX.
Compound nouns can be made with a preposition and a noun (preposition +
noun).
Examples:
§ Do you believe in past lives?
§ They have run the biggest drug businesses, which have been
going for a long time, very successfully, in the criminal underworld.
§ A lot of onlookers
surround the stadium.
§ Most striking about the photos is the presence of
participants and bystanders.
§ Thieves hide things and money into the underground.
X.
Compound noun can be made with preposition and verb
(preposition + verb).
Example:
§
I had a good output
in my semester exam results.
§
His first in-completion was an overthrow of a deep ball that would've made it eight in a row and
three touchdowns.
§ It is a pleasant outlook from the mountain.
§
The signal being fed through the main input.
§
We
have always said our recovery will be cost driven and not dependent on an upturn in
market conditions.
Exercise-xxviii
A.
Complete the compound noun with suitable word into the brackets.
First one is done for you
1.
Soft…ware……….
(a. core, b. ware, c. drink, d. thing)
2.
Tooth………………. (a. powder, b. paste, c. fill,
d. brush)
3.
Past ………………… (a. event, b. in, c. lives, d.
away)
4.
Child………………… (a. hood, b. play, c. ran, d.
food)
5.
Dining-……………… (a. food, b. room, c. bell, d.
on)
6.
…………. ground (a. up, b. on, c. in, d. under)
7.
……………machine (a. computer, b. cleaning, c.
washing, d. mechanical)
8.
…………. water (a. tank, b. break, c. drink, d. clean)
9.
Hair………… (a. cut, b. trim, c. dry, d. style)
10.
…………house (a. rent, b. private, c. rich,
green)
11.
………. -green (a. light, b. dark, c. lite, d.
blue)
B.
Fill in the blanks to use the suitable plural compound nouns. The
singular compound noun into the brackets. First one is done for you.
1. He now has two …. mothers-in-law…. (mother-in-law)
2. I sold them 4 ………………, but they only drank one. (cup of tea)
3. They were visited by the ……………………. (Knight
Templar)
4.
Doctor said that I
should drink two ………………………… honey on every morning. (spoonful)
5. Please sprinkle two ……………… of corn on the porch for the
chickens. (handful)
6. When she goes to trip pack two ……………. always. (toothbrush)
7. …………………. make a wonderful present. (Forget-me-not)
8. He had attended over a dozen ………………. (court-martial)
9. Ravi bought five …………………… in the shop. (water
bottle)
10. It was a sight to see four ………………… fight it out
at the table. (lieutenant general)
11. Our country has a lot of ……………… (waterfall)
C. State that following sentences
True or False. (Check the possessive correct or wrong)
First one is done for you.
1.
Bishva and Sunil’s company will close for next two days.
(True)
2.
Saji and Shajith’s reports submitted by on time. ()
3.
The building was Kumar’s and Ravi. ()
4.
The books are Tom’s and Jack’s. ()
5.
Shajith’s and my details will publish day after
tomorrow. ()
6.
The result is Shajith and mine. ()
7.
The document is his and hers. ()
8.
This house is her brother-in-law’s. ()
9.
The property is my two sister-in-law’s. ()
10. He had three fathers-in-law.
But the house is his youngest father-in-law’s. ()
11. My brothers-in-law and me
arranged the trip to my father’s-in-law place. ()
D. Fill in the blanks with
suitable compound noun in the brackets. A compound noun is only one time to
use. First one is done for you.
(income,
drawback, washing machine, childhood, onlookers, bottles of water, driving
license, toothbrush, cups of coffee, vegetable rolls, motorcycle)
1. Ravi repairs his sister’s…washing
machine… .
2. The accident was happened into the road.
Several……………………. surrounded.
3. Two …………………. enough for my breakfast.
4. Thieves stole my .......................
yesterday.
5. I often change my …………………. twice a month.
6. We must drink at least three ………………. every day.
7. His project had a lots of .................
8. Without ………………… we can’t ride any vehicle in the
road.
9. I could drink four ………………… per day.
10. Everybody should have a joyful ………………
11. Our company has earned over forty million ………………….
this year.
Answers-xxviii
A.
2. paste & brush
3. lives
4. hood
5. room
6. under
7. washing
8. break
9. cut & style
10. green
11. blue
B.
2. cups of tea
3. Knights Templar
4. spoonfuls
5. handfuls
6. toothbrushes
7. Forget-me-nots
8. courts-martial or court-martials
9. water bottles
10. lieutenant generals
11. water falls
C.
2. False
3. False
4. True
5. True
6. False
7. True
8. True
9. False
10. True
11. False
D.
2.
onlookers
3.
vegetable rolls
4.
motorcycle
5.
toothbrush
6. bottles of water
7. drawback
8. driving license
9. cups of coffee
10. childhood
11.
income
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