COMPOUND ADJECTIVE - CONCEPT, EXPLANATION WITH EXAMPLES. & EXERCISE --- EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

 

 COMPOUND ADJECTIVE 

A word that describes or qualifies a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective.  Generally it comprises of one word for example: 

This is a stone wall.

In this sentence 'stone' is an adjective qualifying the noun wall.

At times an adjective is formed of two or more than two words  for example:

This is a stone-walled building.

In this sentence 'stone-walled' is an adjective formed of two words stone and walled. It  qualifies the noun building. It is a compound adjective.

 COMPOUND ADJECTIVE --COMBINATIONS

A compound adjective is formed of two words of parts of speech like noun, adjective , adverb or present and past participles.

These are as follows.

NOUN and NOUN

In this way a teacher-student relationship is established.

In this sentence 'teacher-student' is a compound adjective qualifying the noun relationship.

Both 'teacher ' and 'student' are nouns.

NOUN  and ADJECTIVE

He takes sugar-free tea.

In this sentence, 'sugar-free' is a compound adjective qualifying the noun tea. 'Sugar' is a noun and 'free' is an adjective. 

These two words may change their positions, one may precede or follow the other.

ADJECTIVE and NOUN

The guests were accorded a 

red-carpet welcome.

In this case, 'red' is an adjective followed by a noun 'carpet'. 'Red-carpet' is a compound adjective qualifying the noun welcome.

NOUN and PARTICIPLE

They served us ice-cooled water. 

In this sentence 'ice' is a noun and  'cooled' is a past partciple. 'Ice-cooled' is a compound adjective qualifying the noun water. 

ADJECTIVE  and PARTICIPLE

She is proud of her good-looking appearance.

In this sentence 'good-looking' is a compound adjective qualifying the noun appearance. It consists of 'good' an adjective and 'looking' a present participle.

ADVERB and PARTICIPLE

A well-dressed man appeared on the stage.

In this sentence 'well- dressed' is a compound adjective and man is a noun. 'Well' is an adverb and 'dressed' is a past participle.

NUMBER and NOUN

One-time exercise.

It was an one-time exercise and they executed it very well.

NUMBER and PARTICIPLE

One-layered surface.

A one-layered surface of rubber sheet was spread.

NUMBER and ADVERB

Single-handedly accomplished job.

This car is a single-handedly driven.

NOTE: Sometimes both original part of speech or a participle can be used in a sentence. 

An original noun or a noun of participle both can be used. 

For example: 

Night-patrol/patrolling is urgently required  in this area. 

In this sentence both the types of nouns are correct.

Three word Compound Adjective Examples:

Door-to-door convassing, Man-to-man relationship, Nation-to-nation collaboration, well-to-do family, heart-to-heart conversation.

Generally, as a rule, in a compound adjective a hyphen is used between two words.

-- when the compound adjective is used before a noun or a pronoun but it is not used if it is used after the noun. For example

We visited a world - famous fort in the city.

This fort is world famous.

-- Compound adjectives with numbers contain hyphen for example -

Twentieth - century building, Second rate equipments.

But when the number is used at the second place, a hyphen is not used. For example - 

Type four flat, Category general, etc.

-- A compound adjective with superlative used before a noun or pronoun contains a hyphen but one used after these does not contain a hyphen. For example-

Worst-affected, low-priced.

--When an adjective starting with an adverb does not contain a hyphen. For example -

Thickly populated, Highly guarded.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMPOUND ADJECTIVE AND SINGLE ADJECTIVE

A compound adjective and a single adjective both give different meanings. For example --

A black, haired animal and  A black-haired animal. 

These two words give two different meanings. 

In first case, "black" and "haired" both words  describe the noun animal.  In the second word, black describes hair and both "black" and "haired describe the noun animal. 

First means the animal is black and haired. The second means the animal is having black hair and is black-haired.  

EXERCISES

ONE

Make the Nouns using Compound Adjectives

1.A train that moves slowly........ 

2. A person with a strong will.......

3. An app that saves time...........

4. A child who looks innocent........

5. A lady with a kind heart..........

6. A man having long hair...........

7. A child having blue eyes.........

8. A food free from fat..........

9. An effect that lasts long........

10. A person with an open mind...........

( ANSWERS)

1. A slow-moving train.

2. A strong-willed person.

3. A time-saving app.

4. An innocent-looking child.

5. A kind hearted lady.

6. A long-haired man.

7. A blue-eyed child.

8. A fat-free food.

9. A long-lasting effect.

10. An open-minded person.

TWO

Identify the part of speech of the words of following Compound Adjectives.

1. An open-heart  

2. A five-star

3. A high-spirited

4. A thought-provoking

5. A far-reaching

6. A middle-aged

7. An English-speaking

8. A last-minute

9. A world- famous

10. An old-fashioned.

(ANSWERS -- 1. Adjective, Noun 2. Number, Noun 3. Adjective, Past- participle, 4. Adjective, Present- participle 5. Adjective, Present-participle 6. Adjective, Past-participle 7. Adjective, Present-participle 8.Adjective, Noun, 9. Noun-Adjective 10. Adjective,Past-participle )

THREE

Choose the appropriate option in the following sentences.

1. (1. Scant/ 2. scantily)-clad children were sitting on the foot-path.

2. System-(1.generated/2.generating) statements do not need signatures on them.

3. Mouth-(1.watering/2.watered ) delicacies were served in the party.

4. A (1.hot/2.heated ) water - bottle is required for the patient.

5. She brought for me hand-(1.picked/2. picking) berries from the field.

FOUR

Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with Compound adjectives formed with following given words.

( Well inform,  Heart break, Tight lip, Absent mind, Water log, Low lie, Hard earn, Red hand, Ever green, High guard )

1. The weapons were stored in a ............building.

2. The young man was .......... after his failure in business.

3. The audience appeared to be ............. about the issue.

4. The whole family was ........ about the incident.

5. The police caught the thief ............

6. The son wasted away his father's .......... money.

7. The gardener planted some ......... plants in the garden.

8. The .........areas of the city were filled with rain water.

9. The old man appears to be ..............

10. They pumped out water from the ........areas.

(ANSWERS 1. highly-guarded, 2. heart-broken, 3. well-informed, 4.tight-lipped, 5. red-handed, 6. hard-earned, 7. ever-green, 8. low-lying, 9. absent-minded, 10. water-logged)

 Identify Compound Adjectives in the following sentences.

FIVE

In the far-flung area of a less-known city, there lived a kind-hearted but strong-willed person. He belonged to a well-educated family. He was running his decades -old well-flourished family business in the city. He commanded a well -deserved respect among highly-dignified business men of the city. He had a long-cherished desire that his thirty-year-old convent-educated son too should join his business. He wanted whole-hearted involvement of his  well-brought up son in his  business. He had saved his hard- earned money to invest in the business for him. He also purchased a three-storeyed fully-furnished house for him.His son was not so business minded. He after his studies wanted to do a white-collar job in some well -reputed, multi-national company. He was fond of living an easy- going life. He wanted to enjoy all comforts of modern- style life. At the same time he had a heart-felt respect for his parents. He did not want to defy orders of his highly-respected father. He offered a well-thought plan to his father. He proposed that he would attend a one-year long task-oriented training-programme with a multinational company. Thereafter he will start with his father his own electronic chips-manufacturing company . His father readily agreed to his well-perceived proposal. Thus blew off the much-feared confrontation between the two.

DO LIKE, SHARE, FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE THE BLOG

Contd.......

ARTICLE - EXPLANATION , ITS USE IN A SENTENCE WITH EXAMPLES. & EXERCISE --- EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

                 USE OF AN ARTICLE IN A SENTENCE

                                   Explanation with Examples 

An article though apparently is a small part in a sentence yet it has an important role in providing a sensible meaning of the sentence. It cannot be just dubbed as trivial as it appears to be. So its proper use at an appropriate place in a sentence is very necessary.

An article is an adjective but it is not termed as an adjective. It is categorised under the head determiners. 

An article describes or introduces a noun and  thus it is placed before a noun. Despite its position, an article is not called an adjective. 

POSITION OF AN ARTICLE

--If an adjective precedes a noun, an article is placed before adjective.

 For example -
An   interesting story.

 In this sentence 'story' is a noun and 'interesting' an adjective and 'an' is an article.

--If an adverb precedes an adjective used prior to a noun the article is placed before the adverb. 

For example -

A very interesting story.

Story is a noun, interesting an adjective, very an adverb and an is an article.

-- In case of words like as, so,how, too etc. an article a or an is used between adjective and noun.

For example -

So large a tree, how difficult a sum, so nice a picture, as beautiful a child etc.

-- In case of words like All, both, half or double etc. the article 'the' is used after these words and before noun.

For example --

Both the girls, half the amount, all the boys etc.

But in case of whole or complete 'the' is used before these words.

For example- 

The whole luggage, The complete work etc.

-- In case of exclamatory sentences the article is used before adjective.

For example --

What a beautiful scene!

Such an interesting book!

What a lovely weather!

-- In case of comparative degree of an adjective article 'a' is used before it.

For example-

He is a better singer than a painter.

It is a worse situation than that  we feared.

An article is different from an adjective in the sense that it describes a noun but it does not describe a pronoun whereas an adjective describes both a noun and a pronoun.

There are two articles used --- A, An,  and The.

Articles A and An are used for singular noun which is not specific for example , a book or an apple.

Article The is used to express a specific noun as 'the book'. 'The' describes a particular book. This is clear in the following sentences.

There lived a rabbit in a forest. ........1

The rabbit lived in a burrow near a lion's den in the forest. .......2

In the sentence at Sr. no. 1 'a rabbit'  describes any single rabbit and a forest describes a single unspecified forest. 

But in the sentence 2 'the rabbit' and 'the forest' describe  about a particular rabbit and a particular forest respectively which are refered to in sentence no. 1.

A and An are  in a way shortened form of one and are used for single nouns. One acts as an adjective in a sentence. 

A and an articles are used for countable nouns.

For example :

I have a book.  It means any single book.

I have one book. It means a specified number one of book. 

Article The is used for a specific noun. It is used for singular as well as plural nouns. It is used for countable and uncountable nouns. 

For example :

He drank the water contained in the jug.

I read the book you gave me.

I read the books you gave me.

Application as well as omission of articles in a sentence is equally important. Just as an omission of  an article distorts the meaning of a sentence similarly unnecessary application of an article in a sentence also disturbs its meaning.

A noun used in a general sense does not take any article with it. 

For example : 

Man is mortal.

In this sentence the word man is used in general terms so carries no article. 

But in the following sentence,

I saw a man in the street.

 the word man describes any single unspecific man moving in the street.

The man I saw in the street is a shopkeeper.

In this sentence 'the man' describes about a particular man who is a shopkeeper and was seen by me in the street.

Here follow some sentences for explanation.

EXERCISE

ONE

Find error in the following sentence.

1. It is only after the rains are over, farmers come to know how much loss they have caused to crops.

2. A hand that rocks the cradle rules over the world.

3. It is a big relief when the examinations are over. 

4. He presented her a copy of  latest version of the book.

5. He searched his pocket and found one rupee coin in it.

(ANSWERS)

1. 'The rains' denotes some specific rains whereas it is in a general sense. So 'rains' instead of 'the rains'.

2.  Hand is used here in a specific sense i.e. ' the hand of the mother'. So it should be 'The hand' that rocks the .....

3. ' The examinations' means some specific examinations but here it is used in a general sense. So examinations instead of the examinations.

4. A copy of 'the latest' version of the book.

5. And found ' a one rupee coin' .

TWO

FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH ARTICLES A, AN, THE.

There lived two crows on 1......... tree standing on the bank of 2......... pond. In the hollow trunk of 3.......... tree there lived  4...........snake.  5......... snake used to eat eggs of 6........ crows. Both 7........ crows were distressed of it. One day 8 ....... princess with her soldiers came there. They sat on the bank of 9..........pond  to take rest . The princess took off her ornaments and placed them on the ground.  10........ crow hit upon 11...... plan.  It carried away all 12...... ornaments of the princess in its beak and threw them in the hollow trunk of 13........ tree. The soldiers followed 14....... crow and started searching the trunk of the tree. They found 15........ snake there. They killed the snake and took away 16........ ornaments.  The crows thus succeeded in getting rid of 17....... snake. Both 18...... crows started living happily in their nest on 19.....tree.

THREE

1. The teacher advised the students to pay an attention to their studies.

2. We have been visiting this city for last five years but we never went to his place.

3. Whenever he comes to my house he is always in hurry.

4. This candidate appears to be a most likely choice of parties of both the sides.

5. It took them about hour to complete their work and get  ready to accompany us.

FOUR

1. He has been living with his family in same house since his childhood.

2. The more a man gets , more he desires.

3. The poor are always contented whereas rich are never happy.

4. The third and the fourth chapters of this book are very interesting. 

5. Nobody likes a person with bad temper like him.

6. All the members of the club have been instructed to follow an uniform code of conduct.

7. I can never forget kindness with which he treated me.

8. I found that he was in right whereas his brother was in the wrong. 

9. The day before yesterday he left for Europe by the air. 

10. There is need of finding out an early solution of the problem to avoid further complications. 

(ANSWERS)

THREE

 1. to pay attention. 2. the last five years 3. in a hurry. 4. the most likely. 5. about an hour.

FOUR

1. ....the same house 2. ...the more he desires 3. ....the rich are.... 4. ....and  fourth 5. ....with a bad temper... 6. .... a uniform code 7. .....forget the kindness  8. .......he was in the right.

9. .... by air. 10 .....a need of ..... 

TEST EXERCISE

Find error in the following sentence and write answers in Comments box.

1. Suddenly we heard loud noise in the street.

2. He did not go to his office today as he is having headache.

3. Such a alarming situation of unemployment in the country! 

4. He being a humble man will certaily extend a helping hand towards you.

FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH ARTICLES A, AN, THE.

Once a saint went into ......... forest. There he saw ......... lion trapped in ...... iron cage. ........lion on seeing ........ saint requested him to free him from ........ cage. The saint taking pity on him decided to free .........lion. He said to .......lion,"I am ready to help you but I am afraid that when you come out you will kill me." The lion replied,"I promise I shall not harm you." Believing upon ......lion the saint opened ....... cage. On coming out of ....... cage, the lion said to ......saint," I have been hungry for ......... last so many days. I shall kill you and eat your flesh." The saint was taken aback. In the meantime ....... fox reached there. Both of them narrated ......... whole incident to her. She, on hearing them, shouted,"I am surprised. How such.... big lion can be trapped in such ....... small cage?" The lion on hearing this jumped and went into ........ cage to prove that he was sitting in that cage. As soon as ....lion went inside the cage, ........ fox closed the door of ........ cage. The saint heaved .......sigh of relief. He thanked.......... fox and went on his way.

 

CONTD.

 

 

COMPOUND NOUN - CONCEPT, EXPLANATION WITH EXAMPLES. & EXERCISE --- EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

 

A word expressing a thing, place, person, quality or state of condition, position or attitude is called a Noun.

In other words a noun is the name of a person, place,thing or a quality. It is generally formed of one word like book, crow or honesty etc.

 But sometimes it is formed of more than one words like Bookworm or Armchair etc. Book and worm separately are nouns and have their meanings but these two combined also form a noun which has a different meaning.

A compound noun is also of three words  like 

Father - in - law.

Besides a noun with another noun, a compound noun is formed of a verb, an adjective and a preposition with a noun.

A compound noun is formed of  :-

Noun +Noun      

Bathroom, Watermark

Adjective + Noun

Roundtable, Prime- Minister.

Verb + Noun

Playing card,  Moving cart.

Preposition + Noun

Underworld, Overtime.

There is no specific way of writing a compound noun. It can be in either way, sometimes by adding hyphen between two words or without a hyphen in between. 

Step-son, take-away, classroom, Blackboard.

In case of a noun with more than two words there is a hyphen between words.

For example :

Commander -in- chief, Mother-in-law, 

While writing a compound adjective, a particular method has to be observed. 

For example 

Take the case of 

Blackboard and Black board:

These two words have different meanings. 

Black Board means any board which is black in colour. But in case of Blackboard it is a board black in colour which a teacher uses for teaching students. 

Similarly take away written separately means to snatch away. But take-away has a particular mode of sending things out of the premises where these are stored or are lying. It also means some message. 

A particular care has to be taken while changing these compound nouns from singular to plural or vice versa. Of the two or three words forming a compound noun the word giving the sense of a noun or the doer has to be changed. 

As in case of Mother-in-law it is mother the main word making a noun and not in-law. So plural will be of mother and not in-law. Its plural will be Mothers - in - law.

 

But in case of the word only in-law, it will be in-laws.

Some compound words worth studying.

(Singular)

Book- Fair

Boyfriend

Carbon paper

Commander-in-chief

Father- in - law

Firefly

Fishtank

Flower arrangement

Full moon

Lighthouse

Milk-man

Maid-servant

Master copy

On looker

Passer by

Time table

Timeframe

Undercoat

Underpass

underboss

Upturn

Upper class

Uppercase

Water tank

Youngman

Zebra crossing

These words require consideration 

while changing their number.

(Plural)

Book- Fairs

Boyfriends

Carbon papers

Commanders-in-chief

Fathers- in - law

Fireflies

Fishtanks

Flower arrangements

Full moons

Lighthouses

Milk-men

Maid-servants

Master copies

On lookers

Passers by

Time tables

Timeframes

Undercoats

Underpasses

underbosses

Upturns

Upper classes

Uppercases

Water tanks

Youngmen

Zebra crossings

Here are some examples of sentences with compound nouns containing errors relating to their number given in an examination.

1. Last year four commander-in-chiefs were promoted.

2. The passer-bys halted and took rest there.

3. The zebras crossing are for the use of padestrians.

4. Four stairs-carpet were spread for drying in the courtyard.

5. All the four walls clock struck four simultaneously.

ANSWER

1. Last year four commanders-in-chief were promoted.

2. The passers-by halted and took rest there.

3. The zebra crossings are for the use of padestrians.

4. Four stair-carpets were spread for drying in the courtyard.

5. All the four wall clocks struck four simultaneously.

EXERCISE FOR PRACTICE

EXERCISE 1.

Find error in the following sentences.Mark the part which contains the error.

1. Those ladies along with/(1) their mother-in-laws have/(2) gone to attend a family function in the city./(3) NE/(4)

2. She was combing her hairs /(1) which had messed up due to /(2) fast moving wind in the ground./(3) NE(4)

3. The company has requisitioned /(1) more troops from its headquarter to /(2) handle the situation in the city./(3) /NE(4)

4. The police is trying to find out /(1)the whereabout of the culprit/(2)  who is still at large./(3) /NE(4)

5. This piece of land is a bone of contention/(1) between two brothers and /(2) they are always at  loggers-head with each other./(3) /NE(4) 

(Answers)

1. (2) 2. ( 1) 3. (2) 4. (2)  5. (3)

EXERCISE 2

Find out error in the following sentences.

1. The world of today is divided into the groups of haves and haves not.

2. Girls students always excel boy students in the examination.

3. Men after men went to the mall to purchase goods.

4. The committee is looking into the criterions required for the new post.

5. Books fairs are organised these days to inculcate habit of reading books among people. 

(Answers)

1. haves and have-nots

2 Girl students

3. Man after man

4. Criteria

5. Book fairs

EXERCISE 3

1. The sales-man went doors - to - doors to sell his goods.

2. Soon a five stars hotel will be constructed near this mall.

3. She has gone to attend her sister's-in law marriage.

4. We went to John's and Lucy's house yesterday but it was locked.

5. Trees after trees were felled to construct a housing colony.

6. The mother was feeding the child by putting spoonsful of pudding in its mouth.

7. Two man servants of the hotel were on leave on that day.

8. She gathered some twigs and handsful of rose flowers.

9. Piles after piles of debris were removed from the site.

10. Commander-in-chiefs of all the regiments attended the seminar.

(Answers)

1. door -to -door

2. five star hotel

3.  sister in law's

4. John and Lucy's 

5. Tree after tree was

6. spoonfuls

7. men servants

8. handfuls

9. Pile after pile ....was

10. Commanders-in-chief

A compound adjective 

A word that describes or qualifies a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective.  Generally it comprises of one word for example: 

This is a stone wall.

In this sentence stone is an adjective qualifying the noun wall.

Sometimes an adjective is formed of two or more than two words  for example:

This is a stone-walled building.

In this sentence stone-walled is an adjective formed of two words stone and walled. It  qualifies the noun building.

COMBINATION IN AN COMPOUND ADJECTIVE

A compound adjective is formed of two words of parts of speech like noun, adjective , adverb or present and past participles.

For example : 

NOUN and NOUN

In this way a teacher-student relationship is established.

In this sentence teacher-student is a compound adjective qualifying the noun relationship.

NOUN  and ADJECTIVE

He takes sugar-free tea.

In this sentence, sugar-free is a compound adjective qualifying the noun tea. Sugar is a noun and free is an adjective. 

These two words may change their positions, one may precede or follow the other.

ADJECTIVE and NOUN

The guests were accorded a 

red-carpet welcome.

In this case, red is an adjective followed by a noun carpet. Red-carpet is a compound adjective qualifying the noun welcome.

NOUN and PARTICIPLE

They served us ice-cooled water. 

In this sentence ice is a noun and  cooled is a past partciple. Ice-cooled is a compound adjective qualifying the noun water. 

ADJECTIVE  and PARTICIPLE

She is proud of her good-looking appearance.

In this sentence good-looking is a compound adjective qualifying the noun appearance. It consists of good an adjective and looking a present participle.

ADVERB and PARTICIPLE

A well-dressed man appeared on the stage.

In this sentence well- dressed is a compound adjective and man is a noun. Well is an adverb and dressed is a past participle.

NUMBER and NOUN

One-time exercise.

NUMBER and PARTICIPLE

One-layered surface.

NUMBER and ADVERB

Single-handedly accomplished job.

NOTE: Sometimes both original part of speech or that of a participle both can be used in a sentence. An original noun or a noun of participle both can be used. For example: 

Night-patrol/patrolling is urgently required  in this area. 

In this sentence both the types of nouns are correct.

Fully-packed hall, a closed-door meeting , sugar -free,

EXERCISE 

Choose the appropriate option in the following sentences.

1. (1. Scant/ 2. scantily)-clad children were sitting on the foot-path.

2. System-(1.generated/2.generating) statements do not need signatures on them.

3. Mouth-(1.watering/2.watered ) delicacies were served in the party.

4. A (1.hot/2.heated ) water - bottle is required for the patient.

5. She brought for me hand-(1.picked/2. picking) berries from the field.

Contd.......