PARK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
HS 8251 TECHNICAL ENGLISH
COMPOUND NOUNS
COMPOUND NOUNS:
Look at the following terms:
Research station
Heat transfer
Computer science
These three terms have more than one noun. Groups of nouns like these are called compound nouns. You will come across such compound nouns in your professional and daily life. Read them carefully and understand their meanings. 'For example, ‘computer science’ can be explained as ‘a science of computers’.
Compound nouns may have more than two nouns:
Examples:
Software Technology Park
File transfer protocol
Compound nouns mostly consist of two elements, the second of which is usually a noun
The first element may be:
A noun (noun+noun)
Gold smith night club head ache house keeper wine glass man-servant
An adjective (adjective+noun)
Blackboard blackbird bluebell green room highway first night
A pronoun(pronoun+ noun)
She-dog He-goat
·
A verb(
verb+noun)
Play ground treadmill draw bridge passport
·
An
adverb( adverb+noun)
After thought outpost overcoat downpour
Note:
The first element of a compound noun may itself be compound.
Examples:
Dead-letter office dirty- cloths basket
How compound nouns
are written:
1. Closed: as one
word: undoubled compounds
Undoubled compounds are written as a single word or as one word.
Examples:
Goldsmith policeman boyfriend baseball keyboard notebook
Bedroom flashlight
2. Hyphenated: as
two words joined with a hyphen
Examples:
She-wolf dining-table fifty-five sky-scraper editor-in-chief great-grandfather
A
hyphen should be used when two elements are occasionally combined and
therefore, to some extend preserve their individuality in combination.
3. open-spaced:
as two separate words:
Examples:
Fish
tank tennis shoe police officer seat belt high
school post office
4. When in
doubt: consult
a good dictionary
More about
hyphenated words:
Hyphens
are short lines (-) that we put between words in expressions like , ticket-
office or ex- husband. Hyphen is essentially a combining mark.
Hyphens
are most common in the following cases:
a) Compound nouns
Compound nouns where the
second part ends in –er
Examples: Lorry-driver bottle-opener
Compound nouns where the
first part ends in –ing
Examples: waiting- room writing-pad
Compound nouns with
prepositions and adverb particles:
Examples: sister-in-law make-up
Many compounds of two
nouns, where the first noun has the main stress
Examples: water-bottle or water bottle
Apple-tree or apple
tree
Note: hyphens are
becoming less common in these cases
b) Compound adjectives
Examples: red-hot blue-eyed nice-looking
c) Compound verbs beginning with a
noun
Example: baby-sit house-hunt
d) Prefixes
Example: mid-term self-study non-violence
e) Numbers: fractions:
Example: twenty-one thirty-six two-thirds
Some
combinations can be found written in all the three ways.
Examples:
(One-word) bookshop motorcar
(Hyphenated) book-shop motor-car
(Separate
words) book shop motor car
Some
hints for expanding compound nouns:
·
Use
appropriate prepositions to expand compound nouns
·
Start
with, ‘A” if the compound noun is singular
·
Start
with, ”THE” if the compound noun is plural
·
Try
to make the last word of the compound noun as the base word.
Example: 1. car battery- the battery of
a car 2. Battery car-A car that runs on
battery
The compound noun structure is extremely
varied in the types of meaning relations it can indicate.
It can be used to indicate:
1. What someone does language
teacher
2. What something is for grind stone
3. What the quality of something is white board
4. How something works immersion heater
5. When something happens night frost
6. Where something is door mate
7. What something is made of wood pile
Example 1
Expand the following compound nouns:
1. petrol engine Engine that runs on
petrol
2. wooden box Box made of wood
3. dam construction Construction of dam
4. computer memory Memory of a computer
5. air supply Supply of air
6. water source a source of water
7. circuit diagram A diagram that shows a
circuit
8. computer language language used for computer
operation
9. control tower Tower that controls
10. car battery Battery of a car
11. battery car car that runs on
battery
12. concrete structure structure made of concrete
13. water truck Truck containing water
14. space travel Travel in air ( or)
travel to space
15. spark plug Plug that emits spark
16. steel box/chair Box/ Chair made of
box/ chair
17. stop valve Valve that stops flow
18. diesel engineer An engine that runs on diesel
19. copper wire Wire made of copper
20. aluminum extraction The extraction of aluminum
21. information centre Centre for providing information
22. Solar power Power from the sun
23. research centre Centre for research
24. silver extraction Extraction of silver
25. data input input of data
Example
2:
Suggest compound nouns for the
following descriptions:
1. a tap for measuring : measuring
tap
2. reduction in cost :
cost reduction
3. plug with three pins : a
three pin plug
4. electricity from mains: mains electricity
5. a room for stores: a store room
6. a station for express trains: express train station
Example3:
Change the following phrases into
compound nouns:
1. A branch of engineering that
deals with transportation: transportation
engineering
2. A branch of science that is
concerned with information: information
science
3. A field of engineering that deals
with software: software
engineering
4. A technology that is devoted to
textiles: textile
technology
5. A science about polymer: polymer
science
ASSIGNMENT:
Expand the following compound nouns:
1. A shoe shop 2. A tooth brush 3. Trouser pockets 4.
A ticket office
5. An oil well 6. A sheep dog 7. A milk man 8. A post man
9. A program organizer 10. A power
corporation
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