Some grammar books use the word progressive instead of continuous. They are exactly the same.

The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure of English tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive sentence is: subject + auxiliary verb + main verb An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses. (In the simple present and simple past tenses, the auxiliary verb is usually suppressed for the affirmative, but it does exist for intensification.) The following table shows the 12 tenses for the verb to work in the active voice. structure auxiliary normal simple intensive Do Have perfect Be base past participle present participle -ing present participle -ing main verb I worked I did work I had worked I was working I had been working I work I do work I have worked I am working I have been working I will have worked I will be working I will have been working I will work past present future*

continuous

continuous perfect

have been

* Technically, there are no future tenses in English. The word will is a modal auxiliary verb and future tenses are sometimes called "modal tenses". The examples are included here for convenience and comparison. Regular Verbs

Basic Tenses: Regular Verb

Regular verbs list

This page shows the basic tenses with the regular verb work. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?). The basic structure is:

+ subject + auxiliary verb + main verb negative: - subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb question: ? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
positive:

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses: base verb work Past Wor vcked past SIMPLE do + base verb (except future: will + base verb) SIMPLE PERFECT have + past participle past participle worked present participle -ing working present I do work I work I do not work Do I work? I have worked I have not worked future I will work I will not work Will I work? I will have worked I will not have wor ked Will I have worked? I will be working I will not be worki ng Will I be working? I will have been working

+ ? + ?

I did work I worked I did not work Did I work? I had worked I had not worked

Had I worked? I was working I was not working Was I working? I had been working

Have I worked? I am working I am not working

CONTINUO US be + ing

+ ?

Am I working? I have been working

CONTINUO US

PERFECT have been + ing

I had not beenwor king Had I been working?

I have not beenwor king Have I been working?

I will not have beenworking Will I have beenworking?

Irregular Verbs

Basic Tenses: Irregular Verb

Irregular verbs list This page shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?). The basic structure is:

+ subject + auxiliary verb + main verb negative: - subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb question: ? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
positive:

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses: base verb sing past sang past participle sung past SIMPLE do + base verb (except future: will + base verb) SIMPLE PERFECT have + past participle present participle -ing singing present I do sing I sing I do not sing Do I sing? I have sung I have not sung future I will sing I will not sing Will I sing? I will have sung I will not have su ng

+ ? + -

I did sing I sang I did not sing Did I sing? I had sung I had not sung

?
CONTINUO US be + -ing

Had I sung? I was singing I was not singing

Have I sung? I am singing I am not singing

Will I have sung? I will be singing I will not be singi ng Will I be singing? I will have been singing I will not have beensinging Will I have been singing?

+ ?

Was I singing? I had been singing I had not beensingi ng Had I been singing?

Am I singing? I have been singing I have not beensingi ng Have I been singing?

CONTINUO US PERFECT have been + -ing

+ ?

The basic structure of tenses for regular verbs and irregular verbs is exactly the same (except to be). The only difference is that with regular verbs the past and past participle are always the same (worked, worked), while with irregular verbs the past and past participle are not always the same (sang, sung). But the structure is the same! It will help you a great deal to really understand that. Be

Basic Tenses: Be
This page shows the basic tenses with the verb be. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?). The basic structure is:

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb negative (-): subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb question (?): auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
positive (+): But for simple past and simple present tenses, the structure is not the same. In fact, it's even easier. There is no auxiliary verb. Here is the structure:

subject + main verb negative (-): subject + main verb + not question (?): main verb + subject
positive (+): These are the forms of the main verb be that we use to construct the tenses: base be past simple was, were past participle been past SIMPLE present simple or pa st simple (except future: will + be) SIMPLE PERFECT have + been + I was ? I was not Was I? present participle being present I am I am not Am I? present simple am, are, is future I will be I will not be Will I be?

+ I had been I had not been

I have been I have not been

I will have been I will not have be en Will I have been? I will be being I will not be being Will I be being? I will have been being I will not have beenbeing Will I have been being?

? CONTINUOUS be + being

Had I been?

Have I been? I am being I am not being Am I being? I have been being I have not beenbei ng Have I been being?

+ I was being ? I was not being Was I being?

CONTINUOUS PERFECT have been + being

+ I had been being I had not beenbei ng Had I been being?

In the following table, we see be conjugated for 12 basic tenses.

SIMPLE singular I you he/she/it plural we you they PERFECT singular I you he/she/it plural we you they CONTINUOUS singular I you he/she/it plural we you they CONTINUOUS PERFECT singular I you he/she/it

past was were was were were were past had been had been had been had been had been had been past was being were being was being were being were being were being past had been being had been being had been

present am are is are are are present have been have been has been have been have been have been present am being are being is being are being are being are being present have been being have been being has been being

future will be will be will be will be will be will be future will have been will have been will have been will have been will have been will have been future will be being will be being will be being will be being will be being will be being future will have been being will have been being will have been

being plural we you they had been being had been being had been being have been being have been being have been being

being will have been being will have been being will have been being

What are Verbs?

The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word. Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action. But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state. A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English", John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject doesor is; they describe:

action (Ram plays football.) state (Anthony seems kind.)

There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five forms:

to work, work, works, worked, working

Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb. In this lesson we look at the ways in which we classify verbs, followed by a quiz to test your understanding:

Verb Classification Helping Verbs Main Verbs Verb Classification Quiz

Verb Classification
We divide verbs into two broad classifications:

1. Helping Verbs
Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:

I can. People must. The Earth will.

Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything to you? Probably not! That's because these verbs are helping verbs and have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb. (The sentences in the above examples are therefore incomplete. They need at least a main verb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.

2. Main Verbs
Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:

I teach. People eat. The Earth rotates.

Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something to you? Probably yes! Not a lot, but something. That's because these verbs are main verbs and have meaning on their own. They tell us something. Of course, there are thousands of main verbs. In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that all of these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.

helping verb John You They The children We I are must do not

main verb likes lied are playing. go want now. any. coffee. to me. happy.

Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on the following pages. Helping Verbs

Helping Verbs
Helping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs". Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:

Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)

These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these three verbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in the following cases:

be
o o

to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.) to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)

have

to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)

do
o o o o

to make negatives (I do not like you.) to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?) to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.) to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she does.)

Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)

We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:

can, could may, might will, would, shall, should must ought to

Here are examples using modal verbs:

I can't speak Chinese. John may arrive late. Would you like a cup of coffee? You should see a doctor. I really must go now.

Main Verbs Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs) The following verbs are often called "semi-modals" because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

need dare used to

Main Verbs
Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs". Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples: transitive:

I saw an elephant. We are watching TV. He speaks English.

intransitive:

He has arrived. John goes to school. She speaks fast.

Linking verbs
A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).

Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher) Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful) That sounds interesting. (that = interesting) The sky became dark. (the sky > dark) The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

Dynamic and stative verbs

Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning). dynamic verbs (examples):

hit, explode, fight, run, go

stative verbs (examples):

be like, love, prefer, wish impress, please, surprise

hear, see, sound belong to, consist of, contain, include, need appear, resemble, seem

Regular and irregular verbs

This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart. regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

look, looked, looked work, worked, worked

irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

buy, bought, bought cut, cut, cut do, did, done

Here are lists of regular verbs and irregular verbs. One way to think of regular and irregular verbs is like this: all verbs are irregular and the so-called regular verbs are simply one very large group of irregular verbs. Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could be irregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitive and stative. Now check your understanding

Nouns
It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are "actions"). Likefood. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb). What are Nouns?

What are Nouns?

The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary place: home, office, town, countryside, America thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey

The problem with this definition is that it does not explain why "love" is a noun but can also be a verb. Another (more complicated) way of recognizing a noun is by its: 1. Ending 2. Position 3. Function 1. Noun Ending There are certain word endings that show that a word is a noun, for example:

-ity > nationality -ment > appointment -ness > happiness -ation > relation -hood > childhood

But this is not true for the word endings of all nouns. For example, the noun "spoonful" ends in -ful, but the adjective "careful" also ends in -ful. 2. Position in Sentence We can often recognise a noun by its position in the sentence. Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the, this, my, such):

a relief an afternoon the doctor this word my house such stupidity

Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

a great relief a peaceful afternoon the tall, Indian doctor this difficult word my brown and white house such crass stupidity

3. Function in a Sentence Nouns have certain functions (jobs) in a sentence, for example:

subject of verb: Doctors work hard. object of verb: He likes coffee. subject and object of verb: Teachers teach students.

But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a pronoun or a phrase. In the sentence "My doctor works hard", the noun is "doctor" but the subject is "My doctor". The simple definition is: a person, place or thing teacher, school, book Countable Nouns, Uncountable Nouns Why is this important? Why do some nouns have no plural? dog/dogs, rice, hair(s)

Countable Nouns
Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

dog, cat, animal, man, person bottle, box, litre coin, note, dollar cup, plate, fork table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

My dog is playing. My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

I want an orange. (not I want orange.) Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

I like oranges. Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

I've got some dollars. Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

I've got a few dollars. I haven't got many pens.

"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:

There is one person here. There are three people here.

Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

music, art, love, happiness advice, information, news furniture, luggage rice, sugar, butter, water electricity, gas, power money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

a piece of news a bottle of water a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

I've got some money. Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

I've got a little money. I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns". Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns: Countable dollar song suitcase table battery bottle report tip journey job view Uncountable money music luggage furniture electricity wine information advice travel work scenery

When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable. Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable

Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable

Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning. Countable There are two hairs in my coffee! There are two lights in our bedroom. Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. There are so many different noises in the city. Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper) Hand me those student papers. Our house has seven rooms. We had a great time at the party. How many times have I told you no? Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. hair light Uncountable I don't have much hair. Close the curtain. There's too much light! It's difficult to work when there is too much noise.

noise

I want to draw a picture. Have you paper got some paper? room Is there room for me to sit here? Have you got time for a coffee? time

work

I have no money. I need work!

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):

Two teas and one coffee please.

Proper Nouns (Names) Do we say "Atlantic Ocean" or "the Atlantic Ocean"? Should I write "february" or "February"? Shirley, Mr Jeckyll, Thailand, April, Sony

Proper Nouns (Names)

A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, like John, Marie, London, France or Sony. A name is a noun, but a very special noun - a proper noun. Proper nouns have special rules. common noun proper noun

man, boy woman, girl country, town company shop, restaurant

John Mary England, London Ford, Sony Maceys, McDonalds

month, day of the week January, Sunday book, film War & Peace, Titanic

In this lesson we look at the uses of proper nouns, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:

Using Capital Letters with Proper Nouns Proper Nouns without THE Proper Nouns with THE Proper Nouns Quiz

Using Capital Letters with Proper Nouns

We always use a Capital Letter for the first letter of a proper noun (name). This includes names of people, places, companies, days of the week and months. For example:

They like John. (not *They like john.) I live in England. She works for Sony. The last day in January is a Monday. We saw Titanic in the Odeon Cinema.

Proper Nouns without THE

We do not use "the" with names of people. For example: first names Bill (not *the Bill) Hilary surnames Clinton Gates full names Hilary Gates

We do not normally use "the" with names of companies. For example:

Renault, Ford, Sony, EnglishClub.com General Motors, Air France, British Airways Warner Brothers, Brown & Son Ltd

If the full (registered) name of a company starts with "The", then we use "The" if we use the full name, for example:

The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd

We do not normally use "the" for shops, banks, hotels etc named after a founder or other person (with -'s or -s). For example: shops banks hotels, restaurants Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Maceys Barclays Bank Steve's Hotel, Joe's Cafe, McDonalds

churches, cathedrals St John's Church, St Peter's Cathedral We do not normally use "the" with names of places. For example: towns Washington (not *the Washington), Paris, Tokyo

states, regions Texas, Kent, Eastern Europe countries continents islands mountains England, Italy, Brazil Asia, Europe, North America Corsica Everest

Exception! If a country name includes "States","Kingdom", "Republic" etc, we use "the": states the United States, the US, the United States of America, the USA

kingdom the United Kingdom, the UK republic the French Republic

We do not use "the" with "President/Doctor/Mr etc + Name": the president, the king the captain, the detective the doctor, the President Bush (not *the President Bush) Captain Kirk, Detective Colombo Doctor Well, Dr Well, Professor Dolittle

professor my uncle, your aunt Uncle Jack, Aunt Jill Mr Gates (not *the Mr Gates), Mrs Clinton, Miss Black Look at these example sentences:

I wanted to speak to the doctor. I wanted to speak to Doctor Brown. Who was the president before President Kennedy?

We do not use "the" with "Lake/Mount + Name": the lake Lake Victoria

the mount Mount Everest Look at this example sentence:

We live beside Lake Victoria. We have a fantastic view across the lake.

We do not normally use "the" for roads, streets, squares, parks etc: streets etc Oxford Street, Trenholme Road, Fifth Avenue

squares etc Trafalgar Square, Oundle Place, Piccadilly Circus parks etc Central Park, Kew Gardens

Many big, important buildings have names made of two words (for example, Kennedy Airport). If the first word is the name of a person or place, we do not normally use "the": people Kennedy Airport, Alexander Palace, St Paul's Cathedral places Heathrow Airport, Waterloo Station, Edinburgh Castle

Proper Nouns with THE

We normally use "the" for country names that include "States","Kingdom", "Republic" etc: States the United States of America/the USA

Kingdom the United Kingdom/the UK

Republic the French Republic We normally use "the" for names of canals, rivers, seas and oceans: canals rivers seas the Suez Canal the River Nile, the Nile the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean

oceans the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific We normally use "the" for plural names of people and places: people (families, for example) the Clintons countries island groups mountain ranges Look at these sentences:

the Philippines, the United States the Virgin Islands, the British Isles the Himalayas, the Alps

I saw the Clintons today. It was Bill's birthday. Trinidad is the largest island in the West Indies. Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.

We normally use "the" with the following sorts of names: hotels, restaurants the Ritz Hotel, the Peking Restaurant banks cinemas, theatres museums buildings newspapers organisations the National Westminster Bank the Royal Theatre, the ABC Cinema the British Museum, the National Gallery the White House, the Crystal Palace the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Post the United Nations, the BBC, the European Union

We normally use "the" for names made with "of":

the the the the the

Tower of London Gulf of Siam Tropic of Cancer London School of Economics Bank of France

the Statue of Liberty

Possessive 's Adding 's or ' to show possession. John's car, my parents' house

Possessive 's
When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

the boy's ball (one boy) the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed. one ball more than one ball

one boy

the boy's ball the boy's balls

more than one boy

the boys' ball the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door) the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural: 1. the boyfriend of my sister 2. my sister's boyfriend
Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

This is Mary's car. Where is Ram's telephone? Who took Anthony's pen? I like Tara's hair.

When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

This is Charles's chair.

But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

Who was Jesus' father?

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 'sto the plural form of these nouns: singular noun my child's dog the man's work the mouse's cage plural noun my children's dog the men's work the mice's cage

a person's clothes people's clothes

Noun as Adjective Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun is "acting as" an adjective. love story, tooth-brush, bathroom

Noun as Adjective
As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun: adjective noun

clever small black

teacher office horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective. noun as adjective noun history ticket race teacher office horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

a race horse is a horse that runs in races a horse race is a race for horses a boat race is a race for boats a love story is a story about love a war story is a story about war a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form. Right boat race toothbrush boat races toothbrushes Wrong NOT boats race, boats races NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes

shoe-lace

shoe-laces

NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces

cigarette packet cigarette packets NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only. A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

a news reporter, three news reporters one billiards table, four billiards tables an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions: When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

clothes shop, clothes shops sports club, sports clubs customs duty, customs duties accounts department, accounts departments arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

two separate words (car door) two hyphenated words (book-case) one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the "noun as adjective"?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

shoe shop boat-race bathroom

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective" together. Look at these examples:

car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars noun as noun as adjective adjective noun

costs production costs car production costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England noun as noun as noun as noun adjective adjective adjective coach team coach football England football team coach team coach

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list "tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not. government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government noun as adjective noun as noun as noun as noun adjective adjective adjective centre research centre

accident research centre road accident research centre government road accident research centre

Newpapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example: BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS. Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun as adjective" structure:

empty coffee jar honest car salesman delicious dog food rising car production costs famous England football team coach

Compound Nouns A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. tennis shoe, six-pack, bedroom

Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns. There are three forms for compound nouns: 1. open or spaced - space between words (tennis shoe) 2. hyphenated - hyphen between words (six-pack) 3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words (bedroom) Here are some examples of compound nouns:

noun

+ noun

bus stop

Is this the bus stop for the number 12 bus? In the tropics you can see fireflies at night. Shall we play football today? I always feel crazy at full moon. Clean the blackboard please. I can't install this software on my PC. We always eat breakfast at 8am. Put the clothes in the red washing machine. What a beautiful swimming pool! I like to get up at sunrise. You need a haircut. His hobby is train-spotting.

fire-fly

football adjective + noun full moon blackboard software

verb(-ing) + noun

breakfast washing machine swimming pool

noun

+ verb(-ing)

sunrise haircut trainspotting

verb

+ preposition

check-out

Please remember that checkout is at 12 noon. My mother-in-law lives with us.

noun

+ prepositional phrase

mother-inlaw underworld

preposition + noun

Do you think the police accept money from theunderworld? We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.

noun

+ adjective

truckful

Pronunciation Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word. In the phrase "pink ball", both words are equally stressed (as you know, adjectives and

nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun "golf ball", the first word is stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are always stressed). Since "golf ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a single noun and so it has a single main stress - on the first word. Stress is important in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody said "a GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is painted green) or "a GREENhouse" (a building made of glass for growing plants inside). British/American differences Different varieties of English, and even different writers, may use the open, hyphenated or closed form for the same compound noun. It is partly a matter of style. There are no definite rules. For example we can find:

container ship container-ship containership

If you are not sure which form to use, please check in a good dictionary. Plural forms of compound nouns In general we make the plural of a compound noun by adding -s to the "base word" (the most "significant" word). Look at these examples: singular a school teacher one assistant headmaster the sergeant major a mother-in-law plural three school teachers five assistant headmasters some sergeants major two mothers-in-law

an assistant secretary of state three assistant secretaries of state my toothbrush a woman-doctor a doctor of philosophy a passerby, a passer-by our toothbrushes four women-doctors two doctors of philosophy two passersby, two passers-by

Note that there is some variation with words like spoonful or truckful. The old style was to say spoonsful or trucksful for the plural. Today it is more usual to say spoonfuls or truckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style

(spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be consistent in your choice. Here are some examples: old style plural (very formal) new style plural

teaspoonful 3 teaspoonsful of sugar 3 teasponfuls of sugar truckful bucketful cupful 5 trucksful of sand 2 bucketsful of water 4 cupsful of rice 5 truckfuls of sand 2 bucketfuls of water 4 cupfuls of rice

Some compound nouns have no obvious base word and you may need to consult a dictionary to find the plural:

higher-ups also-rans go-betweens has-beens good-for-nothings grown-ups

Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the first noun is like an adjective and therefore does not usually take an -s. A tree that has apples has many apples, but we say an apple tree, notapples tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush. With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the second noun takes an -s for plural. The first noun acts like an adjective and as you know, adjectives in English are invariable. Look at these examples: long plural form becomes plural compound noun [noun + noun] 100 trees with apples 1,000 cables for telephones 20 boxes for tools 10 stops for buses 4,000 wheels for cars 100 apple trees 1,000 telephone cables 20 tool boxes 10 bus stops 4,000 car wheels