Have you ever come across a situation when it was difficult for you to write a compound word?
Well, I am sure
You must have
Welcome to MYABCENGLISH.COM
I am your facilitator Timir
And today we are going to discuss an often overlooked aspect in any English writing process
It is about identifying the type of compound words
So, what are Compound words?
When two words are used together to offer a new meaning, a compound word is formed.
Compound words are written in three ways:
open compounds that are spelled as two words, e.g., ice cream
closed compounds that are joined to form a single word, e.g., knowhow,
And hyphenated compounds when two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., multi-faceted
In certain cases, more than two words can form a compound example being father-in-law
Most of us often come across a tricky situation while writing that is whether to write compounds as separate words, one word, or hyphenated words.
Here are some ways to identify the compound words
Open Compound Words
Are created in when an adjective is used with its noun to create a new noun or When adverbs ending in –ly combine with another word
In such compound words, we just use a space between the two words
Some of the common examples of open compound words are
living room
coffee mug
newly formed
Closed Compound Words
Closed compound words appear as one word. Closed compound words are mostly made up of only two words. Here are some examples of closed compound words
notebook
Waistcoat
Here’s a great tip to avoid confusion among the compound words. The compound words which are frequently used in our daily lives are usually spelled as a single word
Hyphenated Compound Words
There are a few common rules relating to hyphenated compound words.
A common tip to remember is that in most cases, a compound adjective is hyphenated if placed before the noun being modified by it, but not if placed after the noun.
For example
a long-term solution
This is just one of the few tips relating to hyphens but we cannot always generalize them though they make our writing easier
I am sure that this lesson on compound words was quite a useful one for you and will go a long way in improving your writing skills
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