Compound nouns
6 Minute Vocabulary- 1,424 views
- 26 Oct 2020
Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.
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Hello and welcome to Six Minute Vocabulary with me, Alex and me, Finn. And today we're we're looking at compound nouns.
And what are you eating them? Popcorn.
I've also got some ice cream. Do you want some, Alice?
Well, maybe after the show. Oh, sorry.
In today's show, we're looking at Compound Nans.
We'll look at what they are, what they mean and how to use them.
There will be a quiz and we'll leave you with a tasty top tip for learning vocabulary.
So first up, we're going to listen to Bill and his daughter in law talking about Bill's computer.
And here's a question to think about while you listen. What's wrong with Bill's laptop?
What's wrong with Bill's laptop? Let's find out.
I'm having problems with this new software. Where's my keys? Good. With computers.
He's buying postcards at the post office, I think.
Let me have a look then. Uh huh. I think I can fix this.
Susan, you're my favorite daughter in law, but should I buy a new laptop? I think you'll have to build this keyboard. Doesn't work at all.
So that's Bill and his daughter in law. And we asked you what's wrong with Bill's laptop?
And the answer is the keyboard doesn't work.
Now, keyboard is a key word in today's show because it's an example of a compound noun. That's right.
In English vocabulary, we often put two or more nouns together to form a new noun with a meaning that combines the meanings of the two original nouns. We call these words compounds, for example, keyboard.
The second part board names, the thing we are talking about, and the first part tells us what type of thing it is.
It's a board with keys.
Now we usually write keyboard as one word. Same with laptop software and postcard, but we write others as two words.
For example, post office. It's an office where we post things and we write it as two words.
Unfortunately, there aren't really any rules about when to write compound nouns as one word and when to write them as two words. So be sure to use a good dictionary.
You're listening to BBC Learning English dotcom, and we're talking about compound nouns, and if you are listening carefully, earlier on, you might have noticed a few compound nouns right at the start, popcorn with one of them. We also had ice cream, another compound noun.
And you may also have noticed how these words are pronounced with compound nouns.
The stress usually goes on the first part, like this popcorn ice cream keyboard. Now, what's our final example? Ali's daughter in law.
This compound noun is made of a noun and a prepositional phrase.
Now, when we write three word compounds, we usually use hyphens, little dashes between the words.
This shows the three words go together and the plural is daughters in law, not daughter in laws. We are talking about two daughters, so we add the plural s to this word. Do you have any daughters in law, Alison?
No, I don't. Think I'm far too young to have any. Course you are. Yes, but I do have a sister in law and she's a lovely woman. Lovely. Very nice. Let's hear about compound nouns again.
Their fixed expressions formed from two or three words linked together in different ways.
There are compounds we write as one word like keyboard software and popcorn, but we write some of them as two separate words like post office and ice cream.
That's right. Now it's time for a quiz.
I'm going to say a compound noun. And I'm also going to say whether we write it as one word, two words or with hyphens and you decide if this is true or false.
Ready? Yes.
Number one, popcorn, two words. And that's false. It's one word. No.
Two ice cream, one word false. It's two words.
And number three, daughters in law with hyphens. True.
That's right. It has hyphens well done if you got those right.
And that brings us almost to the end of the program.
But before we finish, here's today's top tip for learning vocabulary. Practice the pronunciation of compound nouns. The stress is on the first word.
So try saying hot dog with an equal stress on both words. Hot dog. This means a dog that is hot.
Then say it again with the stress on the first word. Hot dog. That's a type of sausage snack. Oh great. Thank you.
And that's wonderful. There's more about this that busy learning English dotcom. Join us again for more six minute vocabulary by.