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28 Compound adjectives Formation and pronunciation A compound adjective is formed from two different words, and occasionally three. They are usually written with a hyphen (e.g. good-looking, well-known), and the stress is usually the same on both parts of the compound. Describing people Many compound adjectives describe a person’s appearance, character, and situation, This is William. He isn’t well-known (= famous), he isn’t well-off (= rich), and I've never heard anyone say he was good-looking (= handsome/attractive). But he’s a very nice man - kind, friendly and very easy-going (= relaxed). In this picture he’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a brand-new (= completely new) hat. ‘Well’ and ‘badly’ These adverbs combine with many past participles to form compound adjectives, You can use “well” or ‘badly’ in front of the adjective (except well-known, which has no opposite), a well-directed film a badly-paid job (= a low salary) a well-made pair of shoes a badly-behaved child (= acting in a bad way) a well-written story a badly-dressed young man (= wearing horrible clothes) A ‘five-minute’ walk Ie is common to combine a number and a singular noun to form a compound adjective. I's a fifteen-minute drive to the centre. (= a drive of fifteen minutes) He works in a four-star hotel. (= a hotel with a rating of four stars) 1 gave her a five-pound note. (= a note with a value of five pounds) The winner was a ten-year-old girl. (= a girl who is ten years old) There was a two-hour delay on our flight. (= the plane was two hours’ late) Common compounds She had a full-time job in a bank, but after the baby was born she changed to a part-time job and just worked in the mornings, The hotel is north-west of here, about ten miles away. (also north-east, south-east, and south-west) Most of the population are right-handed, but about 10% are left-handed, On trains and planes you can buy a first-class ticket if you are happy to pay a lot more. Mary bought a second-hand BMW. (= the car was not brand-new, but was a new car for her) Note: As with compound nouns, you can often combine different words with one part and form many different compound adjectives. English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate) 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Exercises Match words from the box on the left with words from the box on the right to form 12 compound adjectives. good well new known easy north written class ten short looking sleeved brand badly hand handed part left going east first second ime pound For each word below, find two words which will combine with it to form different compound adjectives. Cover the left-hand page first, well badly handed time east Complete the compound adjectives in these sentences. 1 They were both wearing short shirts. 2 We stayed in a five hotel. 3. There is a shop in London which sells things for left- people. 4 He’s just bought a brand- car. $. The airport is about ten miles south- of the city centre. 6 One little girl was very badly- ; she kept shouting during lunch and then threw food all over the floor. 7 She's just got a -time job; she works three hours a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 8 It was a very badly- article: I noticed several punctuation mistakes and lots of spelling mistakes. 9 They're very well , So they can afford to go to expensive restaurants. 10 It’s a twenty- walk to the house, but it takes much less than thar in the car. 11 She's got a little stall in the market where she sells second. things. 12 When I saw her last night, she was dancing with a very good- young man ina white suit. 13 I was astonished when the man at the next table gave the waiter a ten- note as a tip. 14 Have you ever met a well- actor or politician? 15 Thad a nice time with my cousin — he’s good company and very easy ‘Write ten sentences about yourself and use a different compound adjective from the opposite page in each one. You can describe yourself, your personality, your family, your clothes, the place where you live, the journeys you make, etc. Try to do this exercise with a friend and see who can finish first. English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate) 29 13 30 Collocation (word partners) What is collocation? If you want to use a word naturally, you need to learn the other words that often go with it (word partners). These can be very different from language to language. For example, in English we say: I missed the bus (=I didn’t catch the bus) [Nor Hest the bus] She made a mistake [Nor she-dic-a-mistake] A heavy smoker (= someone who smokes a lot) [Nor a-strong-smoker or a-big-smoker] Te was a serious illness [Nor s-big-iHness or a-strong-Hness] Verb + noun ‘The meaning of many of these examples may be clear, but did you know these verbs and nouns go together? Is it the same or different in your language? start the car (= turn on the engine) start a family (= think about having your first child) tell a story tell the truth (+ tell a lie) tell a joke run a shop/company (= manage/control it) get on a bus (# get off) get in(to) a car (# get out (of) a car) miss a person (= be unhappy because that person is not there) miss a lesson (= when you don’t come to a lesson) Adjective + noun Common adjectives often combine with a wide range of nouns. a soft drink (= non-alcoholic drink) a soft voice (# a loud voice) dry wine (# sweet wine} dry weather (# wet weather) strong coffee (# weak coffee) a strong accent (# a slight accent) hard work (= hard physically or mentally) a great success (= very successful) heavy traffic (= a lot of cars) heavy rain Look at some of these phrases in example sentences. I can’t understand his English because he has such a strong accent. It was hard work organising the conference, but I think it was a great success, You always get heavy traffic during the rush hour. raining a lot) Adverb + adjective In these examples, all the adverbs mean very, but we choose to use them with certain adjectives. (You could still use very in all of these examples if you wish.) was terribly sorry to hear about your accident, He’s highly unlikely to come now. (= 'm almost sure he will not come) She is fully aware of the problem. (= she knows all about the problem) Ic is vitally important that you make a note of common collocations in your notebook, Collocation in dictionaries All good dictionaries now include examples of common collocations but they do it in different ways: sometimes they are in bold print after the definitions sometimes in italics after the definition; and sometimes in the definition and examples. (See Unit 3, Section B.) English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)

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