#compound adjectives

[trolledu]

[grrrammar]

Generally, when two words are used together to modify a noun, they should be hyphenated.

There was a too-tall man who had to bend down to get through the doorway.

This usually does not apply if the two-word adjective is after the noun.

The man was too tall to get through the doorway without bending down.

[trolledu]

[trolledu]

[trolledu]

[theanishimori]

Compound Adjectives

If you're using two or more words as one descriptor (adjective), you hyphenate them. Some can even be one word.:

"He was their long-time friend." "He had known them for a long time."

"We're having a backyard barbecue party." "Please take these plates out to the back yard."

"These dishes are for everyday use." "I go to that coffee shop every day."

"She is a terrible backseat driver." "This box goes on the back seat."

"He jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." "This kind of opportunity only comes once in a lifetime."

[languagestudymaterials]

Quick Grammar Lesson! Compound Adjectives

Tip #1 You don’t have to use actual adjectives to make a compound adjective. You can turn a whole clause into an adjective. Pretty cool, huh?

How do you do it? Use HYPHENS!

“-” That’s a hyphen; short horizontal stroke with no spaces before and after it.

Compound adjectives will make your English sound way more natural and will make your sentences shorter and less clumsy. Compare: I have sent you an essay that has three pages. I have sent you a three-page essay. Three is a numeral; page is a noun, but when connected, they turn into an adjective.

In the picture, the author went really creative with his compound adjective.

“…of my 3-AM-Monster-Energy-ADHD-Medicine-Induced-Self-Hatred-Fuelled-Writing-Extravaganza about…” (Small correction: of my 3-AM-Monster-Energy-ADHD-Medicine-Induced-Self-Hatred-Fuelled Writing Extravaganza. Writing Extravaganza is a noun phrase here.)

Some more examples: good-for-nothing friends never-to-be-forgotten experience a 3-year-old boy 4-bedroom house

Get creative and spice up your essays with compound adjectives!

[theyuniversity]

Hey! I follow you on twitter and you're one of my favorite accounts c: So, I was wondering when I say something like "I walked 1.8 miles", do I mean "I walked 1.8 mile" or was I correct the first way?

Hey!

Since 1.8 > 1, we would say, “I walked 1.8 miles.”

Similarly, using fractions, we would say, “I ran one-and-a-half miles yesterday.”

However, if we were to use compound adjectives, we would say and write the following:

a 1.8-mile drive

a 26-minute episode

a 432-page book

a three-hour documentary

The hyphen is necessary; it shows that the two words (e.g, “1.8” and “mile”) form one adjective. We also use the singular form of the noun. It looks weird but sounds right.

We hope this simplistic explanation answers your question. If it doesn’t, tweet us. (This would be a good topic to discuss on Twitter.)

Cheers.