Skip to main content

Compound adjectives



In English, some adjectives can consist of two or more words. These are compound adjectives. Compound adjectives are usually written with hyphens when they are used in front of a noun they modify. For example, in the phrase ‘man-eating lion’, ‘man-eating’ is a compound adjective. ‘Man eating lion’ means something different. As you can see, a hyphen changes the meaning of a phrase.

Here are some examples of compound adjectives:
  • She has a well-behaved child.
  • He is a good-looking young man.
  • It’s sugar-free chewing gum.
  • They are long-distance lorry drivers.

If a compound noun comes after the noun, it can drop the hyphen.
  • a well-balanced diet
  • The team was very well balanced.

Compound adjectives can be formed with periods of time.
  • We’ll take a ten-minute break.
  • There has been a two-hour delay.
  • I was on a two-year contract.

We don’t add a plural ending to the compound adjectives with periods of time.
  • We’re going on a six-days trip.
  • … a six-day trip

Other common types are:

Adjective
+
Past participle
old-fashioned
narrow-minded
dark-haired
Adjective
+
Present participle
good-looking
long-running
easy-going
Adverb
+
Past participle
well-established
brightly-coloured
densely-populated
Noun
+
Past participle
sun-baked
wind-blown
water-cooled
Noun
+
Present participle
eye-catching
mouth-watering
money-saving
Noun
+
Adjective
world-famous
sugar-free
book-smart


Compound adjectives

Grammar Cards

Compound Adjectives

Compound Adjectives

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List of irregular verbs

In English, verbs can be regular or irregular .   
1 comment
Click to open

Colors in English

'What's your  favorite   color ?', 'What  color  are your eyes?' or 'What  color  is the car?' - these are the most common questions about  color  in English.  If you know the names of the  colors  in English, you will answer those questions .   Here is the list of the most common  colors :  
Post a Comment
Click to open

Nouns

The simplest definition of a noun is that it is a word that refers to a person (such as John or teacher), thing (such as ball or table), place (such as Harvard or university), or idea (such as love or emotion). What is a Noun? Countable Nouns and Uncountable nouns Some nouns can be counted and they are called countable nouns. Some nouns cannot be counted and they are called uncountable nouns.  Common Nouns and Proper Nouns Names of people, places, and things are called proper nouns. They always begin with capital letters. All other nouns are common nouns.  noncount-nouns.html Collective Nouns Words such as family, team or bunch are collective nouns. They can be used with either a singular or a plural verb. Abstract and Concrete Nouns If your five physical senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch) cannot detect something, it is an abstract noun.  Gender-specific nouns In some languages, nouns refer to specifically to males or females....
3 comments
Click to open