Ch 9: Words

(Lecture 4)
(pp. 121 – 124)

Ms. Nora F. Boayrid

ENGL306
• Words can be classified into three classes: simple, complex, and
compound words.

1. Simple words à consist of a single free morpheme. E.g. Learn

2. Complex words à consist of either (2 bound morphemes) or (a bound

and free form). E.g. Exclude … Bicycle

3. Compound words à consist of free morphemes – usually two-. E.G.

Outside ….Greenhouse …Sweetheart

Ex (9-2, p:121)
Compound words vs. Grammatical structures
• Compound words can come in many forms: separate words (e.g. high
chair); joined words (e.g. outside); and joined words by a hyphen (e.g. son-
in-law).
• Compound words can resemble grammatical structures in that they imply a
grammatical relationship.
E.g.
Crybaby vs. baby cries (subject + verb)
Greenhouse vs. green house (Adjective + noun)
Sweetheart vs. sweet heart (Adjective + noun)

• How to distinguish compound words from grammatical structures?

1. Compound words cannot be divided by the insertion of linguistic
elements (i.e. suffix, word, punctuation).

E.g.
a. She is a sweetheart. à We cannot add anything between sweet and heart.
b. She has a sweet heart. à we can say ….
- She has a sweeter heart.
- she has a sweet, kind heart.
2. A member of a compound word cannot participate in a grammatical
structure.

E.g.
a. It was a very hard ball.
b. It was a very baseball.
3. Compound words (mostly nouns) have the stress on the first part of
the word, grammatical structures have the stress on the second part.

E.g.
a. I saw a blue bird. Cd
b. I saw a blue bird. Gs
• Ex (9-4,5, p:124)
• End of chapter 9