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The merry-go-round at the carnival thrilled Ella.My mother-in-law is coming for a visit.Here are more examples of hyphenated compound words. Adverbs that end in –ly and compounded with another modifier are not modified: a highly rated restaurant, a publicly held meeting. Comparative and superlative adjectives are hyphenated when they are compounded with other modifiers: the highest-priced computer, the lower-priced car. When they come after the noun they are open compounds: a chase that is high speed, a teacher that is part time, etc. To avoid confusion, modifying compounds are often hyphenated, especially when they precede a noun such as in the case of part-time teacher, high-speed chase, and fifty-yard dash. Hyphenated compound words are connected by a hyphen. The line at the post office snaked all the way out the door and around the corner.Open compound words have a space between the words but when they are read together a new meaning is formed: Ice cream Did you hear amount the terrible earthquake?.Make sure you hold hands when you come to the crosswalk.I love the fireworks on the fourth of July.They don’t have a space between them and they are the type that generally comes to mind when we think of compound words. Here are the three types of compound words with an explanation and examples of each: 1) Closed compound wordsĬlosed compound words are formed when two unique words are joined together. In the third sentence, we see makeup as an adjective describing “exam.” Examples of Compound WordsĬompound words fall within three categories and it’s not unusual to find the same word in more than one group. In the second sentence, makeup is used as a noun. In the first sentence, make up is a verb. This is a more advanced example of a compound word because the resulting combination is a homonym and can be used in more than one way. Then we often have to stop and think about how they’re put together.Ĭonsider the words “make up” and “makeup”. The extra supplies were part of the carryover from the budget.Ĭompound words are so prevalent in the English language we don’t think much about them – until it’s time to write them. This surplus will carry over to next season. For example, the word carry over is an open compound word when it’s used as a verb but it is closed when used as a noun and an a adjective. They can function as different parts of speech, which can dictate what form the compound takes on. The spelling of the two words is not necessarily changed when they are joined together, but the definition becomes unique. These words are formed by either adding a hyphen or just using the two words as a single term.
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See below the explanation on compound words What are Compound Words?Ĭompound words are formed when two or more words are put together to form a new word with a new meaning.įor example, “sun” and “flower” are two different words, but when fused together, they form another word, Sunflower.
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