For Learners of English, using adjectives, compound forms.
COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
REWRITE EACH OF THE SENTENCES BELOW, FORMING A COMPOUND ADJECTIVE FROM THE WORDS IN ITALICS AND MAKING ANY OTHER CHANGES NECESSARY
Example:
The journey took ten hours.
They make these chocolates by hand.
The memory was both bitter and sweet.
Answer:
It was a ten-hour journey.
These chocolates are hand-made.
It was a bitter-sweet memory.
1) That thing looks dangerous.
2) Mr Reed is an accountant who was born in London.
3) She always dresses very smartly.
4) It was painted red like the colour of bricks.
5) She has eyes like a cat.
6) It was an occasion which was happy and sad at the same time.
7) The tower has a shape like a mushroom.
8) He was famous all over the world.
9) The meal tastes awful.
10) Only planes with a single engine can land here.
11) A building of five storeys suddenly collapsed.
12) We walked along a corridor which had a red carpet.
13) This machine is operated by hand.
14) The new director is an economist educated in Oxford.
15) He has very broad shoulders.
16) She's always very satisfied with herself.
9 Answers
Wow, Heidi. This was really difficult!
I'm not advanced at all, but I've tried my best.
1.That thing looks dangerous- That's a dangerous-looking thing.
2.Mr Reed is an accountant who was born in London. Mr. Reed is a London-born accountant
3.She always dresses very smartly- She is a very smartly-dressed woman.
4.It was painted red like the colour of bricks- It was painted brick-red.
5.She has eyes like a cat-She is a cat-eyed woman
6.It was an occasion which was happy and sad at the same time- It was a bitter-sweet occasion
7.The tower has a shape like a mushroom- The tower is mushroom-shaped.
8-He was famous all over the world- He was world-famous.
9.The meal tastes awful- The meal is awful-tastedIt is an awful-tasting meal
10.Only planes with a single engine can land here- Only single-engined planes can land here.
11.A building of five storeys suddenly collapsed- A five-storey building suddenly collapsed.
12.We walked along a corridor which had a red carpet- We walked along a red-carpeted corridor.
13.This machine is operated by hand- This is a hand-operated machine.
14.The new director is an economist educated in Oxford.The new director is an Oxford-educated economist.
15.He has very broad shoulders- He is very broad-shouldered. (mejor: broad-shouldered man)
16.She's always very satisfied with herself- She's always very self-satisfied
So, any brave advanced learners of English here? this is not easy
Here are my interpretations (and for what it’s worth, mbvb’s explanation of hyphenated compound adjectives is great!):
Dangerous-looking Describes the way the thing is perceived
London-born Highlights his birthplace as a significant descriptor
Smartly-dressed Describes her manner of dressing. I disagree with mbvb here because the idea is to make the description a singular word, which here is a compound-adjective, specific to her style.
Brick-red Uses a common feature of bricks to describe the color
Cat-like eyes Colloquial, I guess. I’m sure there a plenty of times when comparisons using “similar to” or “(just) like” have special-case adjectives.
Bittersweet Possibly the top-notch example of a single descriptor that combines two antonyms!
Mushroom-shaped Unlike cat-like, mushroom-like shape can be condensed further.
World-famous Describes the type of fame. Interestingly, bad notoriety can be dubbed “infamous”!
Bad-tasting “Awful-tasting” just doesn’t sound right… one would just say “This tastes awful” or “It’s awful”. Even “bad-tasting” seems like a stretch… Maybe I’ve just overlooked a better answer?
Single-engine Colloquial here, as is the next one. The type of plane is often described by the number of engines, and since “to engine” is not a verb, the adjective is a label of quantity and not an indication of the way the plane is powered.
Five-story See above. Interestingly, though, something or someone can be “storied” – this means he/she/it is in some way described. For example “much-storied” “often storied” “hardly storied”.
Red-carpeted This example, however, describes how the corridor came to be decorated. The corridor is not identified by a type of material, but rather by the use of the type as a predicate adjective. Red-carpeted, thinly-tiled, weak-walled, etc.
Hand-operated Unlike the plane example, operate is used as a verb, so one can use “crank-operated” “battery-operated” “machine-operated”, etc. as adjectives.
Oxford-educated A combination of where (Oxford) and how (educated), which gives the adjective some prestige. That is, Oxford is a prestigious school!
Broad-shouldered I’d say this is colloquial, too. “To shoulder” is not a verb, but to say “He is broad-shoulder” sounds like a tribal nickname (like Iron Antlers or Sitting Bull).
Self-satisfied This is a type of satisfaction, but at the moment I’m having trouble recalling whether other “kinds” of satisfaction are compound adjectives: inwardly satisfied, directly satisfied, supremely satisfied, etc.
My attempts
1) It is a dangerous-looking thing.
2) Mr Reed is a London-born accountant.
3) She is always very smartly-dressed
4) It was red-bricked. . It was painted brick-red.
5) She is a cat-eyed girl.
6) The occasion was happy-sad. It was a bitter-sweet occasion.
7) It is a mushroom-shaped tower.
8) He was a world-famous man.
9) It is an awful-tasting meal.
10) Only single-engined planes can land here.
11) A five-storey building suddenly collapsed.
12) We walked along a red-carpeted corridor.
13) It is a hand-operated machine.
14) The new director is an Oxford-educated economist.
15) He is a broad-shouldered man.
16) That is a self-satisfied girl. She is always very self -satisfied.
Like xanderox, I too am a native English speaker and have some comments related to this exercise. Please note that I am by no means a grammar expert, and feel free to disagree with anything I state below.
Basically, a hyphen is used to clarify that the word before the hyphen modifies the word after the hyphen, as opposed to both words modifying the noun. For example, a “light-green suitcase” and a “light green suitcase” are both correct, but these have different meanings. In the first statement, “light” modifies “green”; the suitcase in this statement would be pale green. In the second statement, “light” modifies “suitcase”; the suitcase in this statement would be light (not heavy) and also green in color (which is also often stated as “light, green suitcase” to make the meaning more clear).
That said, the following are general guidelines for when to use a hyphen to form compound adjectives:
- Hyphenated compound adjectives normally precede the noun. So, although I would say "the mushroom-shaped tower," I would omit the hyphen in the statement "the tower is mushroom shaped." "Mushroom" in the latter case clearly refers to "shaped" so the hyphen is unnecessary. This is sometimes not as clear when the noun is understood rather than explicitly stated. For example, when referring to a child who is ten years old, you can say “the ten-year-old child” or “the ten-year-old.” The second is correct even though no noun follows because the word “child” is understood.
- An exception to the above, compound adjectives including “self” are almost always hyphenated even if not followed by a noun. So, both “she is self-satisfied” and “the self-satisfied girl” are correct.
- When an adverb ends in "ly," it generally is not hyphenated. So, I would say "smartly dressed woman" rather than "smartly-dressed woman." “Smartly” cannot refer to “woman” so there is no ambiguity here and therefore a hyphen is not necessary. (Although “family” ends in “ly,” it is not an adverb so “family-friendly restaurant” would still be appropriate.)
- Some compound adjectives have become so common that they have actually been adopted as single words. For example, both "handmade" and "bittersweet" are valid words and likely more appropriate than the hyphenated versions.
Of course, these are just general guidelines since one of the most reliable traits of the English language seems to be its inconsistency. I never realized how complicated English was until I started trying to learn Spanish!
I'll attempt to translate this into Spanish below. My translation will likely be quite atrocious so I apologize in advance. Please feel free to offer corrections, but do not feel obligated. I certainly don't expect anyone to spend time editing my entire post.
Hablo inglés y hago unos comentarios sobre esto ejercicio, pero no soy experta de gramática.
Fundamentalmente, se utiliza un guión a aclarar que la palabra antes de el guión modifica la palabra después de el guión, en lugar de los dos palabras modifican el sustantivo. Por ejemplo, un “light-green suitcase” y un “light green suitcase” son los dos correctos, pero no los significan lo mismo. En la primera frase, “light” modifica “green”. La maleta en esta frase es verde claro. En la segunda frase, “light” modifica “suitcase”. La maleta en esta frase es de poco peso y verde (esta frase también se puede escribir “light, green suitcase” para lo dejar más claro).
Lo siguiente es orientaciónes generales para cuando usar un guión a efectos de formarse adjectivos de compuestos:
- Normalmente, adjectivos de compuestos con un guión anteceden el sustantivo. Con tal que, yo escribiría “the mushroom-shaped tower,” pero omitiría el guión en la frase “the tower is mushroom shaped.” “Mushroom” en la segunda frase claramente modifica “shaped” por lo que el guión es innecesario. A veces, no está tan claro cuando el sustantivo está sobreentendido pero no dicho. Por ejemplo, cuando se escribiendo sobre un niño que tiene diez años de edad, se puede escribir “the ten-year-old child” o “the ten-year-old.” La segunda frase es correcta a pesar de que un sustantivo no sigue porque la palabra “child” está sobreentendida.
- Un excepción de el anterior, casi siempre, adjectivos de compuestos incluyendo “self” usan un guión a pesar de que un sustantivo no lo sigue. Con tal que, tanto las frases “she is self-satisfied” y “the self-satisfied girl” son correctas.
- Generalmente, un guión no está usar cuando el fin de un adverbio está “ly.” Con tal que, yo escribiría “smartly dressed woman” en lugar de “smartly-dressed woman.” “Smartly” no puede modificar “woman” por tanto un guión no es necesario. (Anque el fin de la palabra “family” es “ly,” la palabra no es un adverbio. Por tanto, la frase “family-friendly restaurant” es correcta.)
- Unos adjectivos de compuestos eran tan común que se convertían en una palabra. Por ejemplo, “handmade” and “bittersweet” son palabras correctas y más apropiadas que las palabras con los guiónes.
Lo siento por mi mal traducción.
1-That thing is dangerous-looking. 
That is a dangerous-looking thing.
2- still thinking about it 
)Mr. Reed is a London-born accountant?)
3-She is always very smartly-dressed.
4-It was red-painted like the colour of bricks.It was painted brick-red.
5-She is cat-eyed. 
6-It was a happy-sad occasion. It was a bitter-sweet occasion.
7-The tower is mushrooming-shaped. close mushroom-shaped
8-......................?He was world-famous.
9-It was an awful-tasting meal. close
10-Only single-engine planes can land here.
11-It was a suddenly-collapsing building of five storeys.A five-storey building suddenly collapsed
12-It was red-carpeted corridor where we walked.
13-This is a hand-operated machine.
14-The new director is an Oxford-educated economist.
15-He is broad-shouldered. ( better: a broad-shouldered man)
16-she is always a very self-satisfied She is always very self -satisfied.
OK
I've never heard about compound forms before, so most of these phrases aren't correct , but I tried the exercise just for fun!!
1) It is a dangerous-looking thing.:-(
2) Mr Reed is a London-born accountant.
3) She is a very smartly-dressed girl.
4) It was red-bricked. . It was painted brick-red.
5) That is a cat-eyed girl.
6) The occasion was happy-sad.It was a bitter-sweet occasion.
7) It is a mushroom-shaped tower.
8) That was a world-famous man.
9) It is an awful-tasting meal.
10) Only single-engined planes can land here.
11) A five-storey building suddenly collapsed.
12) We walked along a red-carpeted corridor.
13) It is a hand-operated machine.
14) The new director is an Oxford-educated economist.
15) He is a broad-shouldered man.
16) She is a self-satisfied girl.
Wow, I had not seen the very extensive notes and comments both by mbvb and xanderox.
These explanations are fabulous, I am going to keep them as reference
Also a big thanks to pacofinkler who had been so kind as to provide the best answers
I'm not a native, so I qualify.
Oops, changed my mind..
