Compound Nouns

A / SOME WAYS IN WHICH THE COMBINATIONS CAN BE USED

1 . Noun + Noun
1.1: When the second noun belongs to or is part of the first
e.g : bedroom water tank
shop window picture frame

Note
• Words denoting quantity : lump , part, piece , slice ..
can’t be used in this way
e.g : a piece of cake
a slice of bread
1.2: The first noun can indicate the place of the second
e.g: city street corner shop
country lane
1.3 : The first noun can indicate the time of the second
e.g : summer holiday night safari
November fogs spring flowers
1.4 : The first noun can state the material of which the second
is made
e.g : silk skirt plastic bag
steel door oil stove

Note
•Wool and wood are not used here as they have
adjective –forms : woolen and wooden.
• Gold has an adjective form , but this is used only
figuratively
e.g: a golden handshake
a golden opportunity
1.5 : The first word can indicate the purpose of the second
e.g : coffee cup escape hatch
chess board tin opener
1.6 : The first noun can show what the second is concerned
with
e.g: sheep famer pop singer
beauty contest football match
1.7 : These combinations are often used for the people who
practice occupations,
sports , hobbies and for competitions
e.g: murder story train tickets
milk bills entry fees
1.8 : Work areas , such as factory, farm , mine can be
preceded by the name of the
article produced or the type of word done
e.g : fish farm gold mine
inspection pit decompression chamber

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 1.9: In place-name combinations
e.g : Bond Street Leicester Square
London Transport Tower Bridge

2. Noun + Gerund
e.g : lorry dring English teaching
sightseeing train spotting

3. Gerund + Noun
e.g : waiting room washing machine
running shoe swimming pool

4. Participle + Noun
4.1 : Noun + Present Participle
- Noun + Present Participle
e.g : bone-shattering
life-saving
- Noun + present participle + Noun
e.g : car-repairing technique
road widening skill
4.2: Past Participle + Noun
- Past Participle + Noun
e.g : broken home mixed-ability
mistaken identity much-travelled man
- Past Participle + Noun + Noun
e.g : Written communication skills

5. Infinitive + Noun
e.g: haircut sunrise
rainfall

6. Preposition+ Verb
e.g : output overthrow
upturn outcome

7. Preposition+ Noun
e.g : onlooker bystander

8. Verb + Preposition
e.g: lookout take-off
drawback checkout

9. Noun + Preposition
e.g : hanger-on passer-by

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10. Noun + Prepositional phrase
e.g : mother-in-law

11. Adjective + Noun

e.g : greenhouse software
redhead blackboard

12. Adjective + Verb

e.g : dry-cleaning public speaking

B/ PLURAL FORMS OF COMPOUND NOUNS

1.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 plural
a school teacher three school teachers
one assistant
five assistant headmasters
headmaster
the sergeant major some sergeants major
a mother-in-law two mothers-in-law
an assistant secretary of three assistant secretaries
state of state
my toothbrush our toothbrushes
a woman-doctor four women-doctors
a doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophy
two passersby, two passers-
a passerby, a passer-by
by

Note

• 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 new style plural

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 (very formal)
3 teaspoonsful of sugar
3 teasponfuls of
teaspoonful
sugar
truckful 5 trucksful of sand 5 truckfuls of sand
2 bucketfuls of
bucketful 2 bucketsful of water
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
• 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 tree, not apples tree; matchbox not matchesbox;
toothbrush 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 plural compound noun

becomes › [noun + noun]
100 trees with apples 100 apple trees
1,000 cables for 1,000 telephone
telephones cables
20 boxes for tools 20 tool boxes
10 stops for buses 10 bus stops
4,000 wheels for cars 4,000 car wheels

C/ PRONUNCIATION

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 Stress is important in compound nouns. For example, it helps us
know if somebody said "a GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is
painted green) or "a GREENhouse" (a building made of glass for
growing plants inside).

Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first

word (Noun + Noun; Noun + Gerund; Gerund + Noun
combinations ).
In the compound noun "golf ball", the first word is stressed more (even
though both words are nouns, and nouns are always stressed). Since "golf
ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a single noun and so it has a
single main stress - on the first word

2. In place- name combinations , both words usually

have equal stress

e.g : King Road Water Bridge

Note
• In combinations where the last word is Street, the Word
Street is unstressed
e.g : Bond Street Oxford Street

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