Compound nouns

A compound noun is a combination of two words which function as a single noun.
• Some compound nouns can be written as one word. e.g., headache (head + ache).
• Some compound nouns can be joined using a hyphen (-). e.g., half-brother.
• Some compound nouns must be written as two words. e.g., television set.

There are no rules to tell us how a compound noun should be written. We have to learn each one individually.

Task 1. Join one word in group A with one word in group B to make compound nouns. In some cases, more than one combination is possible.

Group A
air • airline • book
fairy • food • football
hair • home • income
moon • parking • police
question • race • shoe
stamp • sun • table
traffic • time • tooth • water

Group B

basin • boots • case
collection • dryer • glasses
laces • light • lights
mark • meter • paste • pilot
poisoning • pollution
relations • station • story
table • tax • tennis • work

Task 2. Use the compound nouns above to complete the following sentences. You may need to change the forms of some of the words.

1. When I was young, my parents used to tell me ________ about witches and giants and other strange creatures.

2. We had to wait for the ________ to turn green before we were able to continue.

3. Don't leave this plant in the shade; it needs lots of ________.

4. In my home city, there is a lot of bad ________ as a result of the large number of cars and industrial factories.

5. ________ in my city are very bad. There are often fights between black and white youths.

6. The more money you earn, the more ________ you have to pay to the government.

7. On my last holiday, I had terrible ________ as a consequence of eating some bad fish.

8. I tripped over my ________ and ended up with a broken arm.

9. Don't forget to put some money in the ________ or the traffic wardens will give you a ticket.

10. When does our train leave? Why don't you check the ________ .

11. I enjoy playing all ball games, but my favourite must be ________.

12. When you write a question, don't forget to put a ________ at the end of the sentence.

13. I enjoy my English lessons, but sometimes our teacher gives us too much ________.

14. I've got a huge ________. I started it when I was six. My favourite comes from an island in the South Pacific.

15. We could see the path in front of us clearly in the ________, although everything else around us was dark.