COMPOUND WORDS: NOUN + NOUN

1-You can use two nouns together (noun +noun) to mean one thing/person/idea/function etc. For example:

A tennis ball, a bank manager, a road accident, income tax, the city center
The first noun is like an adjective. It tells us what kind of thing/person/idea, etc.

a) a tennis ball: a ball used to play tennis d) the water temperature: the temperature
b) a road accident: an accident that happens of the water
on the road e) a London doctor: a doctor from London
c) income tax: the tax you pay on your f) my life story: the story of my life
income
So you can say:

A television camera, a television program, a television studio, a television producer

(these are all different things or people to do with television)

Language problems, marriage problems, health problems, work problems

(these are all different kinds of problems)

2- COMPOUND NOUNS WITH DIFFERENT MEANING:

A shopping bag: a bag you

Garden vegetables: vegetables that A sugar bowl: a bowl you use
use to put groceries
are grown in a garden to put sugar (perhaps empty)
(perhaps empty)

A vegetable garden: a garden A bowl of sugar: a bowl with A bag of shopping: a bag
where vegetables are grown sugar in it full of shopping
3- COMPOUND NOUNG WITH -ING: TALKING ABOUT FUNCTION

Things used for doing something

a frying pan /a washing machine/a swimming pool/a dining room/gardening tools

4-SOMETIMES THERE ARE MORE THAN TWO NOUNS TOGETHER:

We waited at the hotel reception desk

I watched the World Swimming Championships on TV

If you want to play table tennis (=a game), you need a table tennis table (=a table)

5-TALKING ABOUT COMPUNDS INVOLVING NUMBERS AND QUANTITIES

When we use noun +noun, is like an adjective. It is normally singular, but the meaning is often plural. For
example: a bookshop is a shop where you buy books, an apple tree is a tree that has apples.

In the same way we have:

a)a three-hour journey: a journey that takes three c)a four-week course (not weeks)
hours
d)two 14-year-old girls (not years)
b)a ten-dollar bill (not dollars)
e)a six-page letter (not pages)
compare:

It was a four-week course. BUT The course lasted for weeks.

Exercises

1-What do we call these things and people?

a) a ticket for a concert is: a concert ticket

b) problems concerning health are: ________________________________________________________
c) a magazine about computers is: ________________________________________________________
d) photographs taken in your holiday: ______________________________________________________
e) chocolate made with milk: _____________________________________________________________
f) somebody whose job is to inspect factories: ________________________________________________
g) a horse that runs in races: ____________________________________________________________
h) a race for horses: ____________________________________________________________
i) a hotel in central London is: ____________________________________________________________
j) a scandal involving an oil company: _______________________________________________________
2-Answer the questions using two of the following words each time

accident belt card credit editor forecast newspaper

number road room seat shop weather window

This can be caused by bad driving: a road accident

a) If you’re staying at the hotel you must remember your:______________________________________

b) You should wear this when you’re in a car:_______________________________________________
c) You can you this to pay for things instead of cash: ___________________________________________
d) If you want to know if it will rain, you can read and listen to this: _______________________________
e) This person is a top journalist: ___________________________________________________________
f) You might stop to look at this when you’re walking along a street: ______________________________

3-Complete the sentences using the following:

15 minute(s) 60 minute(s) Two hour(s) Five day(s) Two year(s) 500 year(s)
Six mile(s) 20 dollar(s) Five course(s) Ten pages(s) Six mile(s) 450 page(s)

*Sometimes you need the singular (day/page/etc) and sometimes you need the plural(days/pages/etc)

It is quite a long book. There are 450 pages

a) A few days ago I received a ten-page letter from Julia

b) I didn’t have any change. I only had a ________________________________bill.
c) At work in the morning I usually have a ________________________________break for coffee.
d) There are ___________________________________in an hour.
e) It’s only a___________________________________flight from London to Madrid.
f) It was a very big meal. There were _____________________________.
g) Mary has just started a new job. She’s got a __________________________________contract.
h) The oldest building in this city is the________________________________castle.
i) I work ____________________________________a week. Saturday and Sunday are free.
j) We went for a long walk in the country. We must have walked _____________________________
k) We went for a _____________________________ walk in the country.