{"id":38,"date":"2017-07-20T16:27:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T16:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-styleguide2\/chapter\/compound-nouns\/"},"modified":"2017-07-20T16:27:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T16:27:51","slug":"compound-nouns","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-styleguide2\/chapter\/compound-nouns\/","title":{"raw":"Compound Nouns","rendered":"Compound Nouns"},"content":{"raw":"<p>A <b>compound noun<\/b> is a noun phrase made up of two nouns, e.g. <i>bus driver<\/i>, in which the first noun acts as a sort of adjective\u00a0for the second one, but without really describing it. (For example, think about the difference between\u00a0<i>a black bird<\/i> and <i>a blackbird<\/i>.)\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1115\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]<img class=\"size-large wp-image-1115\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2232\/2017\/07\/20162750\/birdsH-1024x337.jpg\" alt=\"two photographs; one of a crow the other of a blackbird.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"337\"\/> Figure 1. A crow is a black bird, while a blackbird is a specific species of bird.[\/caption]\n\n<strong>Compound nouns<\/strong>\u00a0can be made up of two or more other words, but each compound\u00a0has a single meaning. They\u00a0may or may not be hyphenated, and they may be written with a space between words\u2014especially if one of the words has more than one syllable, as in <i>living room<\/i>. In that regard, it's necessary to avoid the over-simplification of saying that two single-syllable words are written together as one word. Thus, <i>tablecloth<\/i> but <i>table mat<\/i>, <i>wine glass<\/i> but <i>wineglassful<\/i> or <i>key ring<\/i> but <i>keyholder<\/i>. Moreover, there are cases which some people\/dictionaries\u00a0will write one way while others write them another way.\u00a0Until very recently we wrote <i>(the) week's end<\/i>, which later became <i>week-end<\/i> and then our beloved <i>weekend<\/i>.\n<\/p><h2>Types of Compound Nouns<\/h2>\nShort compounds may be written in three different ways:\n<ul><li><strong>The solid or closed forms<\/strong> in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short\u00a0units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are <i>housewife<\/i>, <i>lawsuit<\/i>, <i>wallpaper<\/i>, <i>basketball<\/i>, etc.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>The hyphenated form<\/strong> in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. This category includes compounds that contain suffixes, such as <em>house-build<\/em>(<em>er<\/em>) and <em>single-mind<\/em>(<em>ed<\/em>)(<em>ness<\/em>). Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or\u00a0conjunctions, such as <i>rent-a-cop <\/i>and\u00a0<i>mother-of-pearl<\/i>, are also often hyphenated.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>The open or spaced form<\/strong> consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as <i>distance learning<\/i>, <i>player piano<\/i>, <i>lawn tennis<\/i>, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHyphens are often considered a squishy part on language (we'll discuss this further in <a href=\".\/chapter\/hyphens-and-dashes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hyphens and Dashes<\/a>). Because of this, usage differs and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast rule. This means\u00a0open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the triplets <i>container ship<\/i>\/<i>container-ship<\/i>\/<i>containership<\/i> and <i>particle board<\/i>\/<i>particle-board<\/i>\/<i>particleboard<\/i>. If you're ever in doubt whether a compound should be closed, hyphenated, or open, dictionaries are your best reference.\n<h2>Plurals<\/h2>\nThe process of making\u00a0compound nouns plural has its own\u00a0set of conventions to follow. In all forms of compound nouns, we pluralize the chief element of a compound word (i.e., we pluralize the primary noun of the compound).\n<ul><li>fisher<strong>man<\/strong>\u00a0\u2192 fisher<strong>men<\/strong><\/li>\n \t<li>black\u00a0<strong>bird<\/strong> \u2192 black\u00a0<strong>birds<\/strong><\/li>\n \t<li><strong>brother<\/strong>-in-law\u00a0\u2192 <strong>brothers<\/strong>-in-law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe word <em>hand-me-down<\/em>\u00a0doesn't have a distinct primary noun, so\u00a0its plural is\u00a0<em>hand-me-downs<\/em>.\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Practice<\/h3>\nWhat are the correct plurals for the following words?\n<table><thead><tr><th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>do-it-yourself<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<td>rabbit's foot<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>have-not<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<td>time-out<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>spoonful<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<td>lieutenant general<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>runner-up<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<td>passerby<\/td>\n<td>[practice-area rows=\"1\"][\/practice-area]<\/td>\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n[reveal-answer q=\"87309\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\n[hidden-answer a=\"87309\"]\n<table><thead><tr><th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>do-it-yourself<\/td>\n<td><em>do-it-yourselves<\/em><\/td>\n<td>rabbit's foot<\/td>\n<td><em>rabbits' feet<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>have-not<\/td>\n<td><em>have-nots<\/em><\/td>\n<td>time-out<\/td>\n<td><em>time-outs<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>spoonful<\/td>\n<td><em>spoonfuls<\/em><\/td>\n<td>lieutenant general<\/td>\n<td><em>lieutenant generals<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr><tr><td>runner-up<\/td>\n<td><em>runners-up<\/em><\/td>\n<td>passerby<\/td>\n<td><em>passersby<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n[\/hidden-answer]\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>A <b>compound noun<\/b> is a noun phrase made up of two nouns, e.g. <i>bus driver<\/i>, in which the first noun acts as a sort of adjective\u00a0for the second one, but without really describing it. (For example, think about the difference between\u00a0<i>a black bird<\/i> and <i>a blackbird<\/i>.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1115\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1115\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1115\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2232\/2017\/07\/20162750\/birdsH-1024x337.jpg\" alt=\"two photographs; one of a crow the other of a blackbird.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"337\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1115\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. A crow is a black bird, while a blackbird is a specific species of bird.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Compound nouns<\/strong>\u00a0can be made up of two or more other words, but each compound\u00a0has a single meaning. They\u00a0may or may not be hyphenated, and they may be written with a space between words\u2014especially if one of the words has more than one syllable, as in <i>living room<\/i>. In that regard, it&#8217;s necessary to avoid the over-simplification of saying that two single-syllable words are written together as one word. Thus, <i>tablecloth<\/i> but <i>table mat<\/i>, <i>wine glass<\/i> but <i>wineglassful<\/i> or <i>key ring<\/i> but <i>keyholder<\/i>. Moreover, there are cases which some people\/dictionaries\u00a0will write one way while others write them another way.\u00a0Until very recently we wrote <i>(the) week&#8217;s end<\/i>, which later became <i>week-end<\/i> and then our beloved <i>weekend<\/i>.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Types of Compound Nouns<\/h2>\n<p>Short compounds may be written in three different ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The solid or closed forms<\/strong> in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short\u00a0units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are <i>housewife<\/i>, <i>lawsuit<\/i>, <i>wallpaper<\/i>, <i>basketball<\/i>, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The hyphenated form<\/strong> in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. This category includes compounds that contain suffixes, such as <em>house-build<\/em>(<em>er<\/em>) and <em>single-mind<\/em>(<em>ed<\/em>)(<em>ness<\/em>). Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or\u00a0conjunctions, such as <i>rent-a-cop <\/i>and\u00a0<i>mother-of-pearl<\/i>, are also often hyphenated.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The open or spaced form<\/strong> consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as <i>distance learning<\/i>, <i>player piano<\/i>, <i>lawn tennis<\/i>, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hyphens are often considered a squishy part on language (we&#8217;ll discuss this further in <a href=\".\/chapter\/hyphens-and-dashes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hyphens and Dashes<\/a>). Because of this, usage differs and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast rule. This means\u00a0open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the triplets <i>container ship<\/i>\/<i>container-ship<\/i>\/<i>containership<\/i> and <i>particle board<\/i>\/<i>particle-board<\/i>\/<i>particleboard<\/i>. If you&#8217;re ever in doubt whether a compound should be closed, hyphenated, or open, dictionaries are your best reference.<\/p>\n<h2>Plurals<\/h2>\n<p>The process of making\u00a0compound nouns plural has its own\u00a0set of conventions to follow. In all forms of compound nouns, we pluralize the chief element of a compound word (i.e., we pluralize the primary noun of the compound).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>fisher<strong>man<\/strong>\u00a0\u2192 fisher<strong>men<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>black\u00a0<strong>bird<\/strong> \u2192 black\u00a0<strong>birds<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>brother<\/strong>-in-law\u00a0\u2192 <strong>brothers<\/strong>-in-law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The word <em>hand-me-down<\/em>\u00a0doesn&#8217;t have a distinct primary noun, so\u00a0its plural is\u00a0<em>hand-me-downs<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Practice<\/h3>\n<p>What are the correct plurals for the following words?<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>do-it-yourself<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<td>rabbit&#8217;s foot<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>have-not<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<td>time-out<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>spoonful<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<td>lieutenant general<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>runner-up<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<td>passerby<\/td>\n<td><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"1\"><\/textarea><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q87309\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q87309\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Singular<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\">Plural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>do-it-yourself<\/td>\n<td><em>do-it-yourselves<\/em><\/td>\n<td>rabbit&#8217;s foot<\/td>\n<td><em>rabbits&#8217; feet<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>have-not<\/td>\n<td><em>have-nots<\/em><\/td>\n<td>time-out<\/td>\n<td><em>time-outs<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>spoonful<\/td>\n<td><em>spoonfuls<\/em><\/td>\n<td>lieutenant general<\/td>\n<td><em>lieutenant generals<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>runner-up<\/td>\n<td><em>runners-up<\/em><\/td>\n<td>passerby<\/td>\n<td><em>passersby<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-38\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revision and Adaptation of English Compound . <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Revision and Adaptation of Compound Noun. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>English compound. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_compound#Compound_nouns\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_compound#Compound_nouns<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Compound noun. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Teflpedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/teflpedia.com\/Compound_noun\">http:\/\/teflpedia.com\/Compound_noun<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Crow. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Valters Krontals. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ayxZnp\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ayxZnp<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Common Blackbird. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Andreas Trepte. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Common_Blackbird.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Common_Blackbird.jpg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation of English Compound \",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"English 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