Compound Adjectives

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 3

Compound adjectives

Using the good ol' hyphen - 

Agenda

• Review of adjectives
• Definition
• Examples
• Quiz game

Adjectives

• Adjectives describe a noun (person, place, thing).
• Adjectives can come before the noun they describe, or after TO BE. 

• My bunny is sweet and fluffy. 
• My sweet bunny is fluffy. 
• My sweet, fluffy bunny. 

Adjectives

• You can use multiple adjectives to describe a noun. You separate them with commas , , , , , , , 

• My sweet, fluffy bunny. 
• My big, dumb, ugly manager won't give me Saturday off. 

Adjectives

• But sometimes you'll want to describe something, and you'll want to use a noun or description with multiple words...

• These facilities are state of the art. 
• We will stay at the hotel for four nights. 

... AND THAT CAN BECOME A COMPOUND ADJECTIVE!

Adjectives

• If we want to move our descriptor to before the noun being described, we turn it into a compound adjective. 
• We use hyphens between the words to show it is 1 description/idea. 

• These facilities are state of the art. --> These are state-of-the-art facilities.
• We will stay at the hotel for four nights. --> We have a four-night stay.

Some Examples

• The 81-year-old woman likes to knit. 
• Lizards are cold-blooded animals.

Non-examples: 

• He is a young, happy boy.   --> separate descriptors
• That is a finely tuned watch. --> no - after -ly adverbs or very

              *** This is a fine-tuned piano.

COMPOUND WORDS

• We also hyphenate some compound words.  

Examples: 

• She works part-time.
• This is my mother-in-law.
• He bought a twelve-pack of soda. 
• We drove eighty-three kilometers yesterday. 

This is a _______ cafe.

1. family owned
2. family-owned

That is a ________ dress.

1. very elegant
2. very-elegant

We have a _______ child.

1. two year old
2. two-year-old

Our child is _________

1. two years old
2. two-years-old

There are _______ students in the class.

1. twenty two
2. twenty-two

The ______ dog walked down the street.

*Friendly is an adjective, not adverb!

1. friendly looking
2. friendly-looking

She lives in an _____ apartment.

1. off campus
2. off-campus

The design is ______.

1. state of the art
2. state-of-the-art

This is an _________ vacation.

1. all inclusive
2. all-inclusive

Lesson Summary

• Compound adjectives are two or more words (a phrase) that combine together to modify/describe a noun. 
• You hyphenate ( - ) a compound adjective to clarify that it's part of 1 descriptor. 

• You also hyphenate some nouns to make compound words. Hyphenate numbers & noun phrases that create names/titles.