Compound Words

CHAPTER - 4

COMPOUND WORDS

Sometimes two words are used together to form compound words. When two words are used together to yield a new meaning, a compound is formed. If two words are commonly used together, it is called a compound noun.

Compound words can be written in three ways:

Open compound words

Eg. Living room, dinner table, full moon, coffee mug, dining hall,

Closed compound words (joined to form a single word, e.g., door- knob),

Eg. notebook, superman, waistcoat, bookstall, fireman

Hyphenated compound words (two words joined by a hyphen)

Eg. long-term, up-to-date, real-time, full-time, part-time

Sometimes, more than two words can form a compound

Eg. mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law

The most common spelling quandary (confused) writers face is whether to write compounds as separate words, one word, or hyphenated words.

COMPOUND NOUNS

Compound nouns are the short forms of an expanded version. As the adage goes 'Brevity is the soul of wit', they explain the long phrase point blank. If the compound nouns are ambiguous, it is better to use the expanded version. Compound Nouns are very important in Technical Writing.

How to expand Compound Nouns:

It can be expanded using one of the following words/phrases/suitable words:

of, for, to, from, which is made of, for, using, specialized in, etc.

The expansion should not be made into a sentence.

Very few number of words should be used. They can be one, two, three or four not more than that.

Examples using 'runs on'

✓ Diesel engine - engine which runs on diesel

✓ Steam engine - engine that runs on steam

✓ Battery car - car that runs on battery

Examples using 'of

✓ Gold extraction - extraction of gold

✓ Silver extraction - extraction of silver

✓ Water disposal - disposal of water

Examples using 'made of

✓ Concrete structure - structure made of concrete

✓ Gold chain - chain made of gold

✓ Steel bridge - bridge made of steel

Titbits

'made up of is a wrong usage.

‘Chain made up of gold is wrong.

Chain made of gold is right.

Examples using 'specialized in'

✓ Software engineer - engineer specialized in software engineering.

✓ Science Teacher - Teacher specialized in science or teacher of science.

✓ Computer engineer - engineer specialized in Computer science.

Examples using 'for'

✓ Stop valve - Valve for stopping

✓ Information centre-Centre for information

✓ Recruitment procedure - Procedure for recruiting.

Titbits

There is no double ‘e' in procedure.

There is no double 'o' in lose.

They are pronounced so.

Titbits

English Teacher is wrong.

Teacher of English is right.

English Teacher means a British or American or a European teaching English language.