Unit 1　Nature and Tourism

Section I　Focus on Compound Words

Sources of New Vocabulary

English vocabulary is not a stable, finite collection of words. New words and expressions are continuously coming into use, while older ones drop out of use. Additionally, old words often take on new meanings (e.g. mouse, virus, window in computing), and older meanings can simply die out (e.g. the original meaning of computer was a person whose job was to make calculations or do accounts). Words are very rarely invented entirely from scratch.

One of the most important factors in reading is the knowledge of words. The number of words readers know determines the difficulty and complexity of the material they can read and understand. However, it should be realized that the English vocabulary is so vast that nobody can hope to master vocabulary only by learning his or her lessons in the classroom. Somehow, readers must become self-motivated learners who can continue to learn words when reading an article. Most readers depend on dictionaries, but to do that takes up too much time, which makes reading a tiresome task. Besides, when students are engaged in taking exams, they aren't allowed to use dictionaries. How can they know the meanings of the new words? In fact, there are some other ways to solve the problem, such as guessing the meanings of words from word formation. Usually the words are formed through three major methods, i.e. compounding, affix, and conversion. In this unit, we are going to talk about compounding.

What Is a Compound Word?

Compounding, also called composition, is the formation of new words by joining two or more stems. So a compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one stem and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word. English vocabulary mainly has noun compounds, adjective compounds and verb compounds. Particularly, adjectives and nouns are combined into compound structures in a variety of ways. When someone joins two words together to form a compound word, the spelling of those words does not usually change. Instead, the major change is simply a deletion of spaces between the words. It is, in essence, a marriage of words, where two become one. A common pattern is that two words—fire fly, say—will be joined by a hyphen for a time—fire-fly—and then be joined into one word—firefly. There are some exceptions to this rule of marriage. Just as many women prefer a hyphenated last name when they get married to keep their maiden names, some compound words may be hyphenated instead of being joined directly together. Compound words not joined by a hyphen are called "closed" compounds, while words joined by a hyphen are "hyphenated" compounds. There is also an "open" form for a compound word such as "post office", in which the space is not deleted but the two words function as one.

When choosing whether to join words, either by a hyphen or deletion of space, a writer should consult a dictionary for the correct structure. There are many words that may be compounded, and sometimes it can be difficult to determine how they should be joined and in what context it is appropriate to do so. Generally, when someone joins two words that are not usually compounded, the writer uses a hyphen to express a relationship instead of creating a compound word that does not actually exist. This is oft en done for words that are used together to create an adjective, such as "well-known" or "bright-red". Hence, we can see that there are altogether three forms of compound words: the closed form, in which the words are combined together, such as firefly, secondhand, football, childlike, keyboard, makeup; the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, over-the-counter, state-owned, six-year-old, mass-produced, knowledge-intensive; and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon.

To understand the meanings of compound words, you'd better put the meanings of the two stems together and try to guess their part of speech based on the context. It is important to understand the use of compound words because some of them may have diff erent definitions when the words are joined, rather than merely used consecutively in a sentence. This distinction is vital to ensuring proper meaning in a statement. For example, the compound word "overall" takes on a slightly diff erent meaning than the two words "over all" in a sentence.

Let's look at the following group examples and figure out the implications of them.

Compound Nouns

1) n. + n.: woodwork; airways; carriageway; earthquake; windowsill; hometown; windowscreen; eyesight; bookshop; doughnut; earphone; eyebrow; footpath; handbook; housework; pancake; roadworks; teaspoon; teatime; caretaker; postcode; lipstick; ashtray; saucepan; seabird; seaweed; clownfish; fireman; windscreen; physiotherapist

2) n. + v.: sunrise; sunset; sunshine; daybreak; headache; heartbeat; snowfall

3) adj. + n.: loudspeaker; commonwealth; midnight; blackboard; software; microwave; sideway; shorthand; greenhouse; greenhand

4) v.-ing + n.: sitting room; cooling water

5) v. + n.: playground; chopsticks; runway; washroom; showroom; breakfast; playgroup; shotgun; suitcase; caretaker

6) n. + v.-ing: handwriting; home-cooking; roller-skating

7) v. + adv.: get-together; printout; standby; turnover

8) v.-ing + adv.: opening-up

9) others: aft ernoon; leeway; tonight; bestseller; T-shirt; E-mail; self-respect; backup

Compound Adjectives

1) adj. + n.-(e)d: kind-hearted; medium-sized

2) adj. + v.-ing: good-looking; easy-going

3) adv. + v.-ing: hard-working; ever-increasing

4) adv. + n.: aft er-sales; overseas; downhill

5) n. + v.-ing: English-speaking; tree-planting; peace-loving

6) n. + v.-ed: man-made; home-made; heartbroken

7) adv. + v.-ed: well-known; once-isolated; so-called; newly-built

8) adj. + n.: commonsense; mid-east; round-trip; real-time; long-distance; medium-distance

9) adj. + adj.: super-rich; dark-blue

10) n. + adj.: visa-free; worldwide; world-famous; homesick

11) num. + n.: third-tier; double-digit; eight-fold; secondhand; two-month; first-class

12) prep. + n.: inbound; outbound; online; indoor

13) others: everyday; take-away; part-time; intermediate; year-on-year

Compound Adverbs

maybe; forever; somewhere; anytime; whenever; without; outside; sometime(s); half-way; nearby; wholesale; clockwise; upstairs

Compound Verbs

blackmail; typewrite; undergo; overflow; overthrow; outdo; download

(Adapted from http://www.xzbu.com/9/view-3550900.htm and http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-compound-word.htm and http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm)