Compound adjectives
1) Definition
Compound
adjectives “consist of two words normally separated by a
hyphen. The second element is usually a present participle (-ing) or past
participle (-ed or irregular). e.g: hand-made/ well-dressed/ good-looking”
2) The patterns of compound adjectives:
A. [ adjective + noun + past participle (-ed or irregular)]
a) My mother has a kind heart → my mother is a kind-hearted
b) He wrote with the left hand → he is a left-handed
c) A girl with brown eyes → a brown-eyed girl
d) A man with long hair → a long-haired man
B. [ adjective + verb + ing (present participle)]
a) He looks good → he is good-looking
b) A person who looks good → a good-looking person
C. [ noun + verb + ing ]
a) Qatar produces oil → Qatar is an oil-producing country
b) Tiger that eats men → a man-eating tiger
c) A country where people speak English
→ an English-speaking country.
d) People speak Arabic in
Morocco → Morocco is an Arabic-speaking country
e) Tafilalet is a region that produces dates
→ Tafilalet is a date-producing region
D. [adverb + verb +ing]
a) This student works hard → he is a hard-working student
b) This story never ends → it is a never-ending story
E. [ adverb + past participle]
a) We have brightly-lit streets / we have brightly-coloured
dresses
b) The meal was cooked well → it was a well-cooked meal
F. [compound adjectives with numbers]
a) Their daughter is five years old → they have a five-year-old daughter.
b) He lent me a bill of seven dollars
→ he lent me a seven-dollar bill
NB: don’t add “s” of plural to the compound
adjectives, but add it only to the noun that comes after them
