Analysis on english compound nouns cách sử dụng và định nghĩa để hiểu rõ về compound In order to learn English well and understand it deeply. It is very difficult. We can not only learn its basic rules of grammar but also study all of its aspects. And vocabulary is also one part we cannot pass over.
Part A INTRODUCTION I Rationale Nowadays, English plays an important role in international communication It is widely used in all fields of life such as: economics, politics, tourism and international conferences That’s why teaching and learning English have become a great demand of many people Realizing the importance of English, Vietnamese learners have been studying English both young and old To be knowledge about English is significant in the integration process into WTO In order to learn English well and understand it deeply It is very difficult We can not only learn its basic rules of grammar but also study all of its aspects And vocabulary is also one part we can not pass over We must study many new words and find the new way to formed new words, especially when the life becomes more complex, many new things are invented and people need more new words to name these new things This is not easy But by wise knowledge people found some ways to form new words Among these ways, the commonest way is compounding By compounding, we can form many compound nouns, compound verbs, compound adverbs, and compound adjectives However, when communicating or writing, learners may be confused with using compound adjectives Compared with Vietnamese compound adjectives, those who study on it can find similarities and also differences The variety and usefulness of English also attracts learners’ interest in further studying on compound adjectives Thus, I decided to choose “A study on compounds adjective in English” as the topic for my research with the hope that learners could know more about the use of compound adjectives in daily life II Methods of study: To deal with this topic I carried out my research paper the methods of this study are : - Data collection and analysis - Description - Generalization +Part A is Introduction, which gives out the reason for choosing the topic of this study, making out the methods and pointing out the scole of study And have some the question of study +Part B is Content, consisting of three stdudy: * The first is Definitions of terms: adjective, compound adjective, characteristic,formation,meaning of compound adjective *The second is analysis.This gives kind of compound adjectives *The three is answer the question +The part C is Conclusion which gives the summary of all what mentioned in the study And list of refernces III Scope of study This paper focuses on the description and analysing of the formation of , and characteristic, so on IV Research questions 1.How are compound adjectives in English formed? 2.How can the meaning of compound adjectives be interpreted? 3.Why we even bother with a hyphen? 4.How can compound adjectives are stressed and presented in writing? Part B CONTENT I Definitions of terms Adjective 1.1 Definition Adjective is a word which denotes a certain characteristic of things such as quality, colour, age, size, shape Some examples of adjs are beautiful, nice, shirt (quality), big, small (size), old,young (age), round,square (shape),blue,yellow,black (color), Questions for adjectives can be asked with: “What like?” And, depending on context, general or precise information can be given: Ex: What’s Tom like (to look at)? – He’s tall/ short What’s the car like? – It’s new/ old/ red What’s the car like to drive? – It’s difficult/ fast 1.2 Characteristics of adjectives There are some features are generally considered to be characteristic of adjectives: 1.2.1 Most of adjectives can go in attributive or predicative positions In attributive position, they modify the following nouns; in predicative, they follow linking verbs and function as a subject complement 1.2.2They can pre modify noun Ex: Happy in the happy children 1.2.3They can freely occur in predicative position, it means they can function as subject complement Ex: Old in the man seemed old 1.2.4 They can as object complement Ex: Ugly in he thought the painting ugly 1.2.Adjectives can be premodified by an intersifier such as very, extremely Ex: The children are very happy 1.3 the addition of the pre modifiers “more” and “most” Ex: These students are more intelligent They are the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen 2.Compounding: Compounding is a very common word-formation process in English There are many definitions for compounding: + Jespersen, (1974) said “Compounds are combinations of two or more words that function as one word and a single” + Bauer (1983/2010) said “When two (or more) elements which could potentially be used as stems are combined to form another stem, the form is said to be a compound A compound lexeme (or simply a compound) can thus be defined as a lexeme containing two or more potential stems.Since each potential stem contains at least one root, a compound must contain at least two roots.” + Plag (2002) said that “ a compound is a word that consists of two elements, the first of which is either a root, a word, a phrase, the second of which is either a root or a word.” Adjective compounds A compound adjective is a single adjective comprising more than one word The words in a compound adjective are usually grouped together using hyphens For example: man made, good – looking, habit - forming, happy – go – lucky, deaf – mute, blame worthy, record – breaking, a never-ending story, 4.Formation of compound adjectives: There are many ways in which words can be combined to form compound adjectives In this study, formation of adjectives is presented in the order of the central element: Adjective-centred, Noun-centred., Verbcentred, Adverb-centred, Phrasal • Compound nouns in attributive position These are very common, and new combinations are invented almost daily: This is the summary table: a) Compound Adjective whose right-hand constituent is present participle( CA+ing participle) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Examples constituent Noun sun bathing present participle Adjective Mouth - watering good looking Adverb Cold - blooded well-heeled, Hard - boiled b) Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is past participle: (CA+ed-participle) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Examples constituent Noun moss-covered, Past participle Adjective Adverb well-known well done c) Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is an adjective(CA+adj) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Examples constituent Noun snow-white, Adjective Adjective Safety - conscious blue-black, Deaf – mute Adverb never-defeated Numberal+noun 10-month-old *Notes: Don’t use -s at the end of compound adjectives with numbers: Ex : Let’s take a ten-minutes break Let’s take a ten-minute break d) Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is an adjective derived from a noun(CA+N+ed) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Example constituent Noun Adjective adjective derived from goat-headed dead-eyed, Kind - hearted Adverb well-heeled e) Compound adjectives whose right-hand constituent is a noun(CA+N) a noun( adj+N+ed) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Example constituent Noun love-hate Adjectieve fast-track, Red - letter noun Numeral 11-day f) Compound Adjectives containg particles(CA+particle) Left-hand constituent Right-hand Example Particle Particle Verb Particle constituent Present participle Past participle Particle noun over whelming outstanding pop-up at-risk 5.Meaning of compound adjectives: In contrast to the meanings of those individual words, the words will convey different meanings Use a dictionary to learn the meaning of these words These words may convey more than one meaning., adjectives change the meaning of a noun or pronoun by giving more information about it compounds can be written as one word, two separate words or they can be hyphenated The compounds that are used more often tend to appear in one word Those that combine occasionally but keep their individual meaning tend to use a hyphen And those that come in two words keep their independent identity But British and American English don't always use the hyphens in the same word combinations, so, when in doubt, check a good dictionary! 6.Hyphens 1.definition A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark used to join the separate parts of a compound word Ex :well-oiled ,6-foot ,cooking-oil,ex-President, II: Analysis Compound Adjective whose right-hand constituent is present participle: It is put together between noun or adjective or adverb (left hand constituent) and present participle ( right hand constituent) 1.1 Noun + present participle Ex: Habit – forming = causing addiction Earsplitting = intolerably loud or shrill Bloodcurldling = arousing fright.Sun bathing,time consuming news,grass-eating, mouth – watering,record – breaking ,labour – saving , The nouns: “sun,time, blood,labour,habit,record” Like a modifier of “present participle” 1.2 Adjective + present participle Ex: Good – looking = handsome, of a pleasing or attractive appearance Far – seeing = seeing distant things best Far – reaching = having wide application or influence Free - standing = standing or operating independently of anything else The adjective: “good.easy,a free,,far.” Like a modifier of “present participle” 1.3 Adverb + present participle Ex: Hard - wearing = hard to beat Ever – lasting = enduring forever Ever – increasing = continuing to increase Long – lasting = lasting in a long time Never – ending = not being stopped The adverb: “hard,‚ever,quickly,never,long”like a modifier of “present participle” Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is past participle: It is put together between noun or adjective or adverb (left hand constituent) and past participle ( right hand constituent) 2.1 Noun + past participle: Ex :handmade, moss-covered, lion-hearted, heartbroken, homegrown , heart-warming The noun: “hand,moss lion,heart,home” ” Like a modifier of “past participle” 2.2 Adjective + past participle Ex: well-known,well behave,well meant,out spoken,new-laid, serious – minded,new – made,low – keyed,ready – made,cold – blooded,high flown The adjective ‚serious”, “new”, “low”, “ready”, “cold‛ ” Like a modifier of “past participle” 2.3 Adverb + past participle Ex: well done,well-know,well-lit, deeply – rooted,well – behaved, brightly – lit, well – educated,densely – populated,hard - boiled The adverb: “well, deeply,bright,densely,hard” Like a modifier of “past participle” Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is an adjective: It is put together between noun or adjective or adverb or numberal+ noun (left hand constituent) and adjective ( right hand constituent) 3.1 Noun + adjective Ex :snow-white,knee-deep ,pitch-dark world-wide,noteworthy ,diet conscious ,machine – readable,pollution - free,ice – free,blame worthy, safety - conscious 3.2 Adjective + adjective Adjective+ adjective is common Ex : blue-black , white-hot ,red-hot ,dark-brown , worldly-wise, 3.3 Adverb + adjective Ex :never-defeated ,outspoken,well-built , everlasting , well-educated, illbred = ill-educated, newly-lit = newly-born, 3.4 Numeral + noun + adjective Numbers combine with nouns (usually singular) to form compound adjectives relating to time, measurement, Ex: -Age: a three – year – old building ,a twenty – year – old men , - Area / home: a three – acre plot, a two – litre car, - Length / depth: a twelve – inch ruler, a six – foot hole, - Price: a $50 dress, a $ 90000 house , - Time / distance: a ten – minute walk, a three – hour journey, - Weight: a ten – stone man, a give – kilo bag of flour, However, compound adjective also is formed : A + numberal + noun -ed Ex: A one – layered disk ,A three – headed monster, A three – legged stool ,A three – legged stool →When we use a part of a body as part of an adjective, we add –ed after noun 4.Compound Adjectives whose right-hand constituent is an adjective derived from a noun: It is put together between noun or adjective or adverb (left hand constituent) and an adjective derived from a noun ( right hand constituent) 4.1 Noun + adjective derived from a noun This group consists of compounds in which the adjective is derived from noun stem by the means of adding the adjective suffix –ed These include compounds whose right-hand element is -based, -headed, -laced, -shaped, -themed, -sized, -cobbled and -fashioned Ex: goat-headed, 4.2 Adjective + adjective derived from a noun In the adjective + adjective dervived from a noun ( adjective + noun – ed) structures, the adjective behaves similarly to a modifier of the Noun Ex: dead-eyed ,empty-handed, goat-headed, long-haired, open-ended ,open-minded… 4.3 Adverb + adjective derived from a noun Ex: well-heeled, Compound adjectives whose right-hand constituent is a noun It is put together between noun or adjective or adverb (left hand constituent) and noun ( right hand constituent) 5.1 Noun + noun There are two types of noun + noun compound adjectives In the first type, the modifierhead distinction is possible, such as space-age, worldclass, lifestyle, lifestyle ,resort-style,U.S.-Mexico The second type consists of compounds such as Asia-Pacific, lovehate,self-service ,space-age, 5.2 Adjective + noun Ex fast-track,high-end, high profile,high-tech,large-scale,low-fat ,long-term ,military-style,modern-day ,top-tier 5.3 Numeral + noun Ex: 400,000-brick, 11-day, 22-member, Compound Adjectives containg particles It is containing particles.Particles can left hand constituent or right hand consituent 6.1 Particle + present participle Ex: on going, over whelming, out standing, 6.2 Particle + past participle Ex : outstanding, 10 6.3 Verb + particle Ex : add-on, pop-up, trade-in, 6.4 Particle + noun : Ex: at-risk, underwater, III: Answers the question How to discriminate between free word groups and compound adjectives? English compound adjectives are generally composed of free word group It may be sometimes difficult to decide whether a particular structure should be We can recognize some criteria for the identification : + Spelling: we can rely on the spelling of a word group to discriminate between free word groups and compounds If two words are written with no space between them, or possibly with an intervening hyphen, they form a compound For example: Round about, water logged, clear headed, happy-go-lucky, blow-by-blow, wall-to-wall, In contrast, if it has no hyphen or with separation, it is phrase + Semantic : Generally, compounds are believed to be more specialised in meaning than free word group (phrase).Jespersen (1974) said that "we have a compound if the meaning of the whole cannot be logically deduced from the meaning of the elements separately" + Syntactic :There are several syntactic criteria that are used by scholars for delimitating compounds from free word group -First, it is the uninterruptability of a compound The uninterruptability criterion means that it is impossible to divide a compound by minserting other elements between its constituents -Secondly, compounds should be inflected as a whole, The inflectional morphemes should be attached to the right-hand constituent 11 2.Confusion in applying hyphen to connect compound adjectives ? There are some following cases we must add hyphenation: *One way to decide if a hyphen is necessary is to see if the phrase might be ambiguous without it For example: "large-print paper" might be unclear written as "large print paper" because the reader might combine "print" and "paper" as a single idea rather than combining "large" and "print." Another such example is "English-language learners." Without the hyphen, a reader might think we are talking about English people who are learning any language rather than people who are learners of the English language (1) When compound adjectives formed with high or low are generally hyphenated: Ex: High – level discussion ,high – quality programming ,low – price mark – up, Low – budget films, (2)Compound adjectives which formed with an adverb plus an adjective or a participle are often hyphenated when they occur before the noun they modify: Ex : A well – known actor, an ill – advised move, best – loved poems, a much – improved situation, the so – called cure, (3) Compound adjectives formed with an adverb or a noun and a past participle are always hyphenated when they precede the noun they modify: Ex: well – kept secret, above – mentioned reason, helium – filled balloons, snow – capped mountains, -Many compound this type have become permanent and are therefore hyphenated whether they precede or follow the noun they modify: Ex : A well – worn shirt,his shirt was well – worn,the tongue – tied winner, she remained tongue – tied, 12 (4) hyphenate compound adjectives formed with an adjective and a noun to which -d or -ed has been added: Yellow- eyed cat , Many – tied cake Many of these compounds have become permanent hyphenated: Ex : Middle – aged, old – fashioned, (5) Compound adjectives formed with a noun, adjective, or adverb and a present participle are hyphenated when the compound precedes the noun it modifies: Ex: Two good- looking sons, (6) Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine and adjective compound with a numerical first element are hyphenated: Ex: 13- piece band, 19-century novel, decades -old newspapers, sixsided polygon, ten -thousand -year -old bone, (7)Compound colour adjectives are hyphenated.Color compounds whose first element ends in “-ish” are hyphenated when they precede the noun * note: should not be hyphenated when they follow the noun: Ex:A darkish,blue color, A reddish- gold sunset, (8) If you can use the word “and” between the two adjectives or words, then a hyphen isn't necessary -Do not use a hyphen unless it serves a purpose If a compound adjective cannot be misread or, as with many psychological terms, its meaning is established, a hyphen is not necessary Ex : She has a big-blue book => She has a big and blue book 3.Why we even bother with a hyphen? To avoid confusion When we join an adjective to a noun to create a compound adjective, without a hyphen the reader isn’t sure what is describing (modifying) what A tall tree stump indicates that the stump is from a tall tree, but if you are writing about the tall stump of a tree, a talltree stump tells people that the stump was tall The hyphen makes that clear 13 4.What is the difficult compound adjective when to learn English? The main difficulty a learner comes across is how to classify compound adjectives according to some practical ways In this chapter, I would like to give some consideration: 4.1 Trouble in stressed syllable of compound adjectives Many words may be spelled in all three ways: the closed form, hyphenated form, open form In other words, hyphenated for the same compound adjectives: For example: manmade =man- made Earsplitting= ear-splitting We are often confused because of the various ways of spelling of many compound adjectives 4.2.Some adjective follow the noun they modify A postpositive adjective is an adjective that appears after the noun that it modifies Why they follow these nouns? Sometimes it is imperative for them to follow the nouns they modify Ex: there's a difference between "proper reptiles" and "reptiles proper" Adjectives may even change meaning depending on whether they precede or follow, as in proper They live in a proper town (a real town, not a village) They live in the town proper (in the town itself, not in the suburbs) That's why they are sometimes used after the nouns proper 4.3 Spelling errors when writing these words Some words in English by two different syllables from a form, so we too often make spelling errors when writing these words Spelling error: +the distance between two words.Ex:bed room, bath room, good night, on line=> Wrong - How to write correctly: bedroom, bathroom, goodnight, online (no space between the two words) 14 +Using wrong the structure : Ex: a nicely-looking jacket => wrong How to write correctly : a nice-looking jacket (adjective+ participle) -a new-married couple => wrong How to write correctly : a newly-married couple (adverb + partiple) +: Don’t use “-s” at the end of compound adjectives with numbers: Ex : Let’s take a ten-minutes break Let’s take a ten-minute break Part C: Conclusion English is important role in communication English is used in fields of life and it makes the relations among countries closer English is also considered the most widely used language in the world In order to learn English better, learners but also not help studying all aspect in English vocabulary in general not only studying compound adjectives in particular From that learners can improve their English i just finish really hope that 15 my study, to some extent, will help readers who want to learn more about English grammar, especially compound adjectives And they can find useful way to use compound adjectives in writing, communicating Besides, I also point out some difficulties which other learners may also get and I give some solutions to overcome., in my study, I only mention some main fields as concerned about My graduation paper ‚A study on compound adjectives in English‛ includes three chapters I hope that that study will help you a lot We can understand more about compound adjectives, will help readers who want to learn more about English grammar List of References Alexander, L.G (1992) Longman English Grammar London and Newyork Alexander, L.G (1992) Longman English Grammar practice London and Newyork http://123doc.org/document/1177680-a-study-on-compound-adjectivesin-english.htm http://www.grammar.cl/english/compound-adjectives.htm 16 Adams, Valerie An Introduction to Modern English Word-formation London: Longman, 1973 6.Bauer, Laurie English Word-formation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 Tuten, Nancy Get it Write.“ Compound Words: When to Hyphenate“ 27Apr.2003 8.http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703.htm 9.https://www.academia.edu/11374396/Compound_adjectives_in_English_ the_type_lion-hearted_and_good-natured 17