How Can Compound Words Be Formed?

There are three common ways to form a compound word. The most common method for forming a compound word is using the closed method. This method syncs the two words together and no spaces are present in the word. Examples of the closed method include: sunset, sunlight, and classroom. We can also write compound expressions with the help of hyphens. The hyphen separates the terms and holds the relation of the words. Common examples of hyphenated uses include: in-depth, life-sized, and round-trip. The last method for forming these words often confuses students because there is the use of a space with these terms. Compound words that contain a space are called open. Examples of this include: name tag, eye level, and slide show.

Which of the three formats used is dependent on the part of speech the compound word serves. When a word is used as a verb the open method is usually used. Take the for example the words "back" and "up". When used as a verb, the open method is used. Example: I had to back up my laptop. When used as noun, the format changes to closed. As in the example sentence: Do you have a backup copy of all your work? As you can see defining the part of speech the words are used in make a big difference and this is where many students get a bit lost.

How to Teach This Skill

Being able to recognize compounds words in what we read is an essential skill that we master to become fluent readers. As we know, there are three different types of compound words (open, closed, and hyphenated). I have found over the years the best approach is start students off with learning the open version and then progressing to the closed form. I leave hyphenated entirely out of the picture until I reach the review portion of the learning unit. Now that you understand my motivation for this unit, lets take a look at what we actually do to help students in activity form.

I always start this topic off by providing students with a graphic organizer that has a box for compounds and their sub-parts just below it. I then provide a huge list of examples and students cycle through the entire list. I have students then take those broken word parts and have them create entirely new words. This really helps students see the cyclical nature of these types of terms.

Another great activity is to provide them with a grade level appropriate reading passage that contains a few compounds and just give them a hint as to how many are on the page. You can expand the reading passage size and pair up students to handle it as a team. This is fun and engaging for students. The more practice that students get with this skill, the more comfortable they will be and the better they will be at it.

What Is Compounding In The English Language?

The English language is flexible and ever-changing, and you can always see new words popping out. One major contributor to this is compound words. They are created from the process of compounding, which combines two words to create a new term. This could be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc. This process is also known as composition.

The importance of compounding stems from the fact that it is the only source of new word formation for some languages. Moreover, compound words also act as linguistic constructions. Read ahead to learn more about what is compounding in the English language.

Types of Compound Words

Open : This type of compounding involves using two words to create a new idea or meaning but keeping them separate on-page, such as living room, hot dog, ice cream, peanut butter, etc. These words are completely unrelated but create a new meaning when used together in a sentence.

Closed-Form : In the closed-form compound word, you take 2 unique and unrelated terms and combine them to form a new word, such as inside, snowball, railroad, everything, etc.

Hyphenated : As the name suggests, hyphenated compounds are those in which two separate words are joined together by a hyphen. These are most commonly used when you need to use an adjective before a noun. Examples include long-term, father-in-law, up-to-date, etc.

Subclasses

Endocentric : An endocentric compound word consists of a head, the part that describes the word's full meaning, and modifiers that restrict its meaning. For instance, if words A and B are joined, it creates a special type of B, for example, small talk, doghouse, etc.

Exocentric : An exocentric compound consists of a head and constituents parts that are unable to define the meaning of the word, such as hot dogs or white-collar, where the meaning for both terms are not their literal constituents.

Copulative : Copulative words have two semantic heads or simply two words that are relatable in meaning and logic and can also be used by adding an “and” in the middle, such as sleepwalking, bittersweet, etc.

Appositional : Appositional compounds consist of lexemes, a group of words that cannot be used separately to explain the meaning of the word, such as player-coach.

How Do You Identify Compound Words?

Whether in writing or speech, compounds words can be identified by two key factors;

Meaning : The meaning is the obvious answer, but as we stated above, the English language is flexible and complex, and sometimes literal meanings are not the correct answer. For example, the word “hot dog” doesn’t mean the dog is hot; it’s a food item. Instead, the word “light switch” means just that; a switch that turns the light on/off.

Stress : Stress is an easier way to identify compound words in the English language. Generally, the primary stress moves forward in a compound word, where the modifier is less heavily stressed than the word it modifies. On the other hand, in phrases, the opposite is true, i,e the stress moves to the right.

Now that you know about this concept, you can make your essay more creative and descriptive. Don’t go overboard with compound words and keep them minimum and relevant. We hope this article helped!