Compounding

1. Circle the compound word in each group.

1. building sunglasses computer jumped
2. happiness thunder snowflake puppy
3. peanut butter picture coloring
4. cooked monkey dragonfly plastic
5. running singer mailbox shirts

2. In each example, which is a compound, which is a free word group and their meanings?
a. The beautiful dancing girl is a dancing girl.
A girl who is working in the field of dance
The girl who is dancing is beautiful

b. The White House is a white house but no other white house can be the White House.
Compound: Where the American Presidents live
Free word group: a house is white

c. On the red tape there is a lot of information about the government offices typical of red
tape.
Compound: bureaucracy
Free word group: a tape that is red

d. A blackleg is not a person with a black leg.

A person who works while others that they work with are on strike.
The leg is black.

e. "She bought a lot of things: beef, cabbages, milk, bread and butter"
"- Yes, she is very fond of bread and butter".
Two diffrent foods
ONE Type of food

3. Classify the compounds below according to their meanings:

boyfriend, easy - going, (to) machinewash, (to) give - in, long - legged, speedo - meter, table
tennis, lady killer, whole - heartedly, happy - go - lucky.

Idiomatic Partially idiomatic Non-idiomatic

(to) give – in lady killer Boyfriend
happy - go - lucky speedo - meter easy – going
(to) machinewash
table tennis
whole - heartedly

4.Make up four compound words with suffix "-ing " and four with "-ed ".

ground-breaking
angry-sounding
cooking oil
parking ticket
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short-sighted
semi-skilled
long-haired
thick-lipped

5. Explain the jokes below:

a. Nam : - John, there's a bluebottle on the table.
John: - Yes, I know. Why?
Nam : - Bluebottles are dirty, you know.
John: - Nonsense, I've washed it carefully.

A kind of fly/ a bottle is blue

b. First woman: - That doctor's quite a lady-killer.

Second woman (not very attentive): My God! I'd better go and see another.

A man who is very attractive to women/ a person who will kill women.

6. ABC compound words. Fill in each blank line with a word to make a compound word.
Example: some_________ (somewhere)

A. apple___sauce_____ M. man____made________
B. bird___cage_____ N. night____fall_________
C. cow____boy____ O. out______line______
D. door____bell____ P. pen_____house________
E. every___time_____ Q. quick___sand____
F. foot_____ball___ R. rain____bow____
G. gold____fish____ S. sun____set_____
H. head___line_____ T. table____cloth_____
I. ice____berg____ U. under______wear______
J. jelly___fish_____ V. view_____point________
K. king____sman____ W. wall_____paper_____
L. life____hack____ Y. year_____book______
Z. zoo___keeper______

7. Read the text and underline the compound words. Write them in the list.

Long range weather forecast

A sunshine weekend for many areas with some sunshine in the Southeast of England.
By midweek, most places will see a fair amount of rainfall, with some heavy
downpours in Scotland, particularly the Highlands.
Northern Ireland and western parts of the mainland are also likely to see strong wind,
with speeds up to 70mph forecast which could cause uprooted trees and some
structural damage. However, by Thursday, the wind should die down but it will
remain overcast and wet sometimes.
The overall picture is that the weather will remain changeable, with temperatures

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feeling agreeably warm during the sunnier spells. This could lead to occasional
thunderstorms.
Please remember to put your clocks backward one hour when British summertime
finishes at 2 a.m. on Saturday morning.

1. sunshine 5. rainfall 9. forecast 13. sometimes

2. weekend 6. downpours 10. however 14. overall
3. southeast 7. highlands 11. summertime 15. thunderstorms
4. midweek 8. mainland 12. overcast

8. Compound Adjectives. Rewrite each of the sentences below, forming a compound

adjective from the two words in italics and making any other changes necessary.
Eg:
The journey took ten hours. It was a ten-hour journey.
They make these chocolates by hand. These chocolates are hand-made.
Her hat caught everyone's eye. She wore ah eye-catching hat
The doctor was trained in Germany. He's a German-trained doctor.
The memory was both bitter and sweet. It was a bitter-sweet memory.

1. That thing looks dangerous. => That is a dangerous-looking thing.

2. Mr Reed is an accountant who was born in London. => Mr.Reed is a London-born
accountant.
3. It was painted red like the colour of bricks. => It was painted brick-red.
4. She had eyes like a cat.' => She had cat-like eyes.
5. It was an occasion which was happy and sad at the same time. => It was a bitter-sweet
occasion.
6. The tower has a shape like a mushroom. => It is a mushroom-shaped tower.
7. He was famous all over the world. => He was a world-famous man.
8. We had to write a composition of 200 words. => We had to write a 200-word
composition.
9. The meal tasted awful. => It was an awful-tasting meal.
10. Only planes with a single engine can land here. => Only single-engined planes can land
here.
11. We walked along a corridor which had a red carpet. => We walked along a red-carpeted
corridor.
12. This machine is operated by hand. => This is hand-operated machine.
13. The new director is an economist educated at Oxford. => The new director is an Oxford-
educated economist.
14. He has very broad shoulders. => He is very broad-shouldered.
15. She's always very satisfied with herself. =>She is always very self-satisfied.
16. My sister is very conscious of dress.=> My sister is very dress-conscious.
17. We'll have a guide who speaks French. => We’ll have a French-speaking guide.
18. The walls were as blue as the sky. => The walls were sky blue.

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 19. I looked at the sea, which was rather blue but also rather green. => I looked at the
bluegreen sea.
20. The experiment was done with balloons filled with gas. => The experiments was done
with gas-filled balloons.

9. Pair the words in the box to make ten compound words.

baby birth contact effect grass

greenhouse holiday hostel control lens
mark opener package roots sitter
fever tin trade hay youth

Baby sister
Contact lens
Youth hostel
Birth control
Grass roots
Greenhouse effect
Hay fever
Tin opener
Package holiday