Compound Adjectives
By : Ronaldi
What is Compound Adjectives?
A compound adjective is formed when two or more words work
together to modify the same noun
There are 13 kinds of compound adjectives, but let’s focus on 6
kinds
adjective + present participle : good-looking
noun + present participle : life-threatening
adverb + present participle : brightly-shining
adjective + past participle : kind-hearted
noun + past participle : tongue-tied
adverb + past participle : brightly-lit
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
I have a meat-eating plant
They go to an English-speaking school.
The dishes were all mouth-watering.
The girl read a page-turning book last night.
My sister is an animal-loving girl.
They listen seriously to the heart-breaking
story.
His brother is a tennis-playing person.
noun + present participle
Can you change these compound adjectives
into adjective clauses?
I have a meat-eating plant
I have a carnivorous plant
I have a plant that eats meat
Can you change these compound adjectives
into adjective clauses?
They go to an English-speaking school.
They go to a school where people speak
English
Can you paraphrase these compound
adjectives ?
The boys ate mouth-watering foods.
The boys ate delicious foods.
The boys ate foods that water their mouth
The girl read a page-turning book last night.
The girl read an interesting book last night.
The girl read a book that made her turn the
book over and over again
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
The good-looking chef was dressed in hard-
wearing clothing and sitting in front of
a free-standing cooker.
The horse is fast-running
This is quick-drying glue.
This has been a long-lasting war
adjective + present participle
Can you rewrite these compound adjectives
in other words?
This has been a long-lasting war
This war has lasted for a long time
This is quick-drying glue.
This glue dries quickly
The horse is fast-running
The horse runs fast
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
Cinta Fitri is a never-ending soap opera.
They looked at the brightly-shining star
adverb + present participle
Can you rewrite those compound
adjectives in your own words?
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
She has a very narrow-minded Father.
My grandma is an absent-minded person.
He was a cold-blooded murderer.
She lived in an old-fashioned house
My aunt is kind-hearted and open-minded
adjective + past participle
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
Jakarta is a densely-populated city.
The boy is well-behaved.
Autumn is associated with brightly-colored
foliage.
The dimly-lit streets in our town encourage
burglars.
she held deeply-rooted beliefs about the
sanctity of marriage.
adverb + past participle
Read and find what the sentences
have in common
When they refused to exchange the shop-
soiled item, I was tongue-tied and
didn't know what to say.
noun + past participle
Source :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit
/learnitv224.shtml
http://joelfinley.tripod.com/compadj.htm
http://english.errachidia.org/compounds.htm
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-
2/exercise-english-76003.php
