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Compound Nouns in English

Types & Spelling Rules

Forming

Compound Nouns

American or British

Exercises

Lists

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.

Most compound nouns contain at least one noun. The other word or words may be an adjective, preposition, or verb. The second word is almost always the main word, with the first word modifying it or adding to its meaning.

Compound words, a large group of words to which compound nouns belong, are expressed in three ways. The closed form has two words that have melded together to make one word, like: softball, redhead, makeup, and keyboard. Examples of the hyphenated form are: six-pack, five-year-old, and son-in-law. The open form has the words next to each other, like: post office, upper class, and attorney general. Sometimes, the hyphen disappears as the word is more widely used, and it becomes a closed word.

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)

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Formation

Words can be combined to form compound nouns. These are very common, and new combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts. The second part identifies the object or person in question (man, friend, tank, table, room). The first part tells us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is (police, boy, water, dining, bed):

What type / what purpose What or who

police man

boy friend

water tank

dining table

bed room

The two parts may be: Examples:

noun + nounBedroom, water tank

motorcycle, printer cartridge

noun + verbRainfall, haircut

train-spotting

noun + adverbhanger-onpasser-by

verb + nounwashing machine, driving license

swimming pool

verb + adverb*Lookout, take-off

drawback

adjective + nounGreenhouse ,software

redhead

adjective + verbdry-cleaning

public speaking

adverb + nounonlooker

bystander

adverb + verb*Output, overthrow

upturn, input

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Types & Spelling 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, like daughters-in-law or mayors-elect. Sometimes it is at the end, like in go-betweens and higher-ups. In the open form, the “s” is added to the main word, like: bills of fare, assistant secretaries of state, and notaries public.

To make a compound word possessive, you usually add an apostrophe “s” at the end of the word, like: 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, like: “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, like: “The attire of the fathers-in-law.”

Compound nouns often have a meaning that is different from the two separate words.

Stress is important in pronunciation, as it distinguishes between a compound noun (e.g. greenhouse) and an adjective with a noun (e.g. green house).

In compound nouns, the stress usually falls on the first syllable:

a 'greenhouse = place where we grow plants (compound noun)

a green 'house = house painted green (adjective and noun)

a 'bluebird = type of bird (compound noun)

a blue 'bird = any bird with blue feathers (adjective and noun)

* Many common compound nouns are formed from phrasal verbs (verb + adverb or adverb + verb).

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 plurala tennis shoe three tennis shoesone assistant headmaster five assistant headmastersthe sergeant major some sergeants majora mother-in-law two mothers-in-lawan assistant secretary of state three assistant secretaries of statemy toothbrush our toothbrushesa woman-doctor four women-doctorsa doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophya 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

teaspoonful 3 teaspoonsful of sugar 3 teaspoonfuls of sugar

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 trees, not apples tree; matchboxes not matchesbox; toothbrushes 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

Pluralize the Principal Word

The vast majority of compound nouns form their plurals by adding s to the principal word (shown in bold) in the compound.

Examples:

He now has two mothers-in-law. (plural of mother-in-law)

They were visited by the Knights Templar. (plural of Knight Templar)

It was a sight to see four lieutenant generals fight it out at the table. (plural of lieutenant general)

Jerry had attended over a dozen courts-martial. (plural of court-martial / also, see third example below)

No Principal Word?

When there is no obvious principal word, add s (or es) to the end of the compound.

Forget-me-nots make a wonderful present. (plural of forget-me-not)

Pack two toothbrushes. (plural of toothbrush)

Jerry had attended over a dozen court-martials. (There is ambiguity about the principal word in court-martial. Therefore, through common usage of both, courts-martial and court-martials are acceptable.)

COMPOUND NOUNS?

Compound nouns are nouns that comprise two or more words. For example:

Jack-in-the-box

Knight Templar

Lieutenant general

Court-martial

Forget-me-not

Toothbrush

Water bottle

Ink-well

Board of Education

BEWARE OF 'OF'When a compound noun is in the form [word] of [word] (e.g., cup of tea), the first word is always the principal word.

I sold them 4 cup of teas, but they only drank one. (should be cups of tea)

SPOONFULS OR SPOONSFUL?

When a compound noun is in the form [container]ful (e.g., bucketful, cupful and handful), an s is added to the end to form the plural.

There were 3 spoonsful of honey left in the jar. (should be spoonfuls) Please sprinkle two handfuls of corn on the porch for the chickens.

Use a Hyphen to Eliminate Ambiguity

There are no specific rules on forming compound nouns. For example, 'Ink-well' can be also be written 'ink well' or 'inkwell' - all are correct spellings. However, you should use a hyphen to eliminate ambiguity. Ambiguity is particularly prevalent when the first word of the pairing is a substance (like 'water' or 'ink').

COMPOUND NOUN?A single noun that comprises two or more words is called a 'compound noun'. Sometimes the words in a compound noun are joined together by a hyphen or hyphens. (e.g., water-bottle)

Examples:

water-bottle / water bottle (When the first word is a substance, a hyphen is used to show that the item is not made of that substance.)

ice-axe / ice axe (Both are acceptable, but 'ice-axe' makes it clear that the axe is not made of ice.)

paper-clip / paper clip / paperclip (All 3 are acceptable. However, if the clip were made of paper, then only'paper clip' could be used.)

Please could you pass me that plastic wire-fastener? (a fastener made of plastic, i.e., not wire)

There is also some ambiguity when the first word of the pairing ends 'ing'. (This is called a present participle.)

Examples:

changing-room / changing room (Both are acceptable, but 'changing-room' makes it clear that the room is notchanging.)

laughing-gas / laughing gas (Both are acceptable, but 'laughing-gas' makes it clear that the gas is notlaughing.)

NOT ALL HAVE A ONE-WORD VERSION

Be aware that not all compound nouns have a one-word version. Even though 'inkwell' and 'paperclip' are fine, 'iceaxe' and 'waterbottle' are spelling mistakes. There are no rules governing this - you have to know.

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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.

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Exercises

Compound Nouns: Vocabulary Worksheet

Exercise in Compound Nouns and Modifiers

Below are 2 worksheets that you can download and print out for your students to practise with. On the next 4 pages are picture cards with words followed by exercises to use in the classroom.

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5137409/compound-nouns-vocab-worksheet-docx-13k?da=y

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5137410/exercise-in-compound-nouns-and-modifiers-docx-54k?da=y

Difficult

Very Difficult

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Compound Word Lists

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5089240/compound-nouns-verb-phrases-docx-13k?da=y

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5089241/compound-word-list-docx-242k?da=y

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/5089242/compund-nouns-hyphenated-docx-22k?da=y

Compound Noun Word List

Compound Noun Hyphenated Word List

Compound Noun Verb Phrases List

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