Compound words

Compound words made simple:

When two words come together to yield a new meaning, a compound word is formed. Understanding the compound words can help children (and us) remember spellings, and big ones at that. For example, many children write ‘earings’ which is the wrong spelling. An easy way to remember is:

ear + rings= earrings

Since all the letters and sounds of the two words have to join in a compound word, it can’t be ‘earings’.

Similarly, many children write ‘beautyfull’. Here ‘beautiful’ is not a compound word and thus doesn't carry all the letters. The pronunciation of ‘beautiful’ is different from the joint sounds of ‘beauty’ and ‘full’, too.

Similarly, ‘mango’ is not a compound word though it looks like

man + go

The pronunciation of ‘mango’ is different from the joint sounds of ‘man’ and ‘go’.

Knowing that compound words carry two small words, children feel more confident to attempt big words like butterfly, rattlesnake, basketball.

Here are the 3 main types of compound words:

Joined	Open	Hyphenated
Notebook Bathroom Earthquake	Living room Ice cream School bus	Long-term Up-to-date Mother-in-law

Notice how ‘bathroom’ is a joined compound word, but ‘living room’ is an open one. Similarly, ‘bedroom’ is joined, but ‘dining room’ is open.

Words that are often written incorrectly as compound words:

Incorrect	Correct
Alright	All right
Nevermind	Never mind
Alot	A lot
Eachother	Each other

Words whose meanings get changed if used as compound words:

Separate	Meaning	Compound	Meaning
All together	As a group	Altogether	Entirely
Every day	Adverb of time	Everyday	An adjective
Back up	Phrasal verb	Backup	Reserve, extra

She stacked the books all together, and count was 1500 altogether.

He listens to his favorite list every day while doing his everyday chores.

Many compound words can’t be put as hyphenated when used as adjectives after the nouns:

This is not a long-term solution.

This solution is not long term.

This is an up-to-date data.

This data is up to date.

It’s an off-campus residence

The residence is off campus

Understanding compound words also helps in pluralization. The head of the compound word gets pluralized.

Incorrect	Correct
All mother-in-laws are here	All mothers-in-law are here
The passer-bys didn't help	The passers-by didn't help
They are the commander-in-chiefs	They are the commanders-in-chief

Used as adjectives, they can’t be pluralized.

Incorrect	Correct
I have a 9-years old child	I have a 9-year-old child
Give me 2 dozens mangoes	Give me 2 dozen mangoes
It’s a 2-years commitment	It’s a 2-year commitment
I have 5 hundreds rupees	I have 5 hundred rupees