Alex
Emma
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Learn English Punctuation: How to use hyphens with compound adjectives
Improve your writing by learning the rules of punctuation! Do you wonder why aworld-famous actor needs a hyphen while another actor is simply world famous? What is the difference between these two structures, and when exactly should you be using a hyphen? In this lesson, you will learn the basic structure of compound adjectives like ten-year-old girl and green-eyed boy. After watching, you will be able to construct them yourself with ease. It’s really not mind-boggling stuff, after all.
Related Lessons
The 4 English Sentence Types – simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
Vocabulary Hack: Sound smarter and avoid mistakes using Compound Adjectives!
English Grammar: Compound Subjects & Verb Agreement
Learn Punctuation: period, exclamation mark, question mark
Writing & Punctuation: How to use COLONS & SEMICOLONS
Quiz
Test your understanding of this English lesson
Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.Levels
Lesson Topics
274 COMMENTS
Great lesson Adam! Thanks a lot! Useful grammar we need in our everyday written communication.
I could’t agree more Valderi! It was a superb lesson.Besides, Adam is a down-to-earth person.
Challenging lesson Adam, however the well-designed quiz along with your examples in the lesson help to understand much better the workings of compound adjectives.
When it comes to writing, the correct use of punctuation marks makes a considerable difference, doesn’t it?
I strongly believe that people who do not use punctuation deserve a long sentence.
Bye for now, have a great weekend!
I like the play on words Regino :)
Thank you Sir. I got 100/100.
N`3 is very difficult. H
Thanks you, Sir Adam, for explain this highly important topic.
Interesting and useful lesson! Thank you, Adam :)
Hey Adam. I was wondering if you have some tips for spelling, because sometimes I get confused when writing certain words… Is this a matter of time and practice or there are some rules for it? Great lesson btw. :)
Hi Marina,
I wish I could say there’s a trick to it, but basically it’s just practice and a lot of memorizing. That’s one of the things that makes English difficult, i.e., things are not spelled phonetically.
me too
Very good lesson. thank you
Hi Adam !
Thanks a lot of and l had 5 test l got 4.5 and l have this week a test and next week what should l do to got 5 grade and nice to chatting to you or nice to see you in youtube
Hi Alkhatian,
What kind of test do you have? Which part of the test is costing you the most points?
Thanks A lot. I can not wait to see this kind advance videos.
Thnx Mr good-teaching Adam , it was a good informed lesson.
:)
Thnx Mr good-teaching Adam , it was a good-informed lesson.
What is the meaning of 8-hour shift?
I work for an 8-hour-shift job ,which means 8 hours a day from 8 AM to 4 PM ,or 8 hours in another day from 4 PM to 12 PM .Not a regular day-time job.
Hi Gdyes,
It means a period of work that lasts 8 hours. Richard gave a good example.
Thanks a lot for the lesson!
Quite useful lesson, Adam. It’s really interesting finding out more about adjectives as being very important words, especially when you are writing reviews. By the way, I have a request for you: the usage of the word ‘Though’, particularly, when it’s used as an adverb at the end of a sentence. Thanks Adam! You’re a kind teacher.
Thanks Acidkike,
I’ll see what I can do :)
Thank you, Adam!
Hi Adam! Thank you for your lessons. This lesson is a little bit more diffucult for me. While I was taking the Quiz, I had difficulty to understand of the meaning of the NASA question. Can you explain its choices meaning?
Regards,
Hello,
The key is the definition of the adjective: “state-of-the-art equipment or technology uses the newest and most advanced ideas and features”.
Thank you very much David!
Hi Ramazan,
As David mentioned, state-of-the-art is an adjective that also means the latest, or most up to date. Remember that a compound adjective is treated as a one-word adjective.
Hope this helps.
Thank you very much Adam!
Iti s a very useful lesson. Thank you for it Adam :-)
This is a MIND-BLOWING video :-)
I hope,i used this compound adjective correctly ;-0)
Thank you Adam for useful lesson.
You did Tejalkk :)
nice lesson!!!
https://www.facebook.com/elizaveta.kosterina You can add me as a friend if you want :)
Good lesson, thank you! I learnt a lot!
But I spotted one mistake:
The plural of storey is storeys.
stories is the plural of story.
Have a nice day!
Good eye Panda. Thanks :)
Thanks for the really useful lesson, Adam. I have a question, if you please. How many words at all can be in а compound adjective? Habitually it’s 2 or 3 words, but could it consist of 4,5, may be 6 words? What are the longest compound adjectives that you know? Give few examples if it’s no bother, please. Thank you.
Hi Aleks,
They can be any length (She has a two-and-a-half-year-old boy). I don’t know the longest, but sometimes you’ll see people making up adjectives with whole expressions (It was an I-love-you-but-I-don’t-want-to-marry-you kind of breakup.), though these are just playing with the language and are not considered formal. In formal academic writing you might see very long compounds especially with technical terms.
Got 8 Out of 10.. :) , should have watched the video before the quiz…
although I had done this grammar part couple of times.. I still had some doubts…
It’s a 13-minute-awesome lesson.. thank you very much Adam!
hi Adam
hope you are doing well
I have came up with a question?
you know as we are speaking all that we produce is noise my question is what do we know that enables us to consider this noise as an expression of meaning?
your sincerely.
Hi Mehdi,
That’s a university course in and of itself (philosophy of language). You can Google this subject and find lots of stuff on that if you’re interested.
hello adam
may you paste a writing on screen each your videos? in order I could figure your lesson out perfectly. thanks
Hi Idin,
If you look at the Youtube frame, there’s a button to press for close caption (cc), which are like subtitles) that you can follow along.
so whats the difference if i say multipurpose instead of multi-purpose?
Hi Imtithal,
That’s a matter of which dictionary you’re using. In some it will be with the hyphen, in others it won’t. That being said, usually the prefix ‘multi’ doesn’t take a hyphen unless it is followed by a word that begins with another adjective
(multi-industry)
Mr Adam thank you for the lesson you have good explanation :).
Thanks for your lesson. But it made me a question: When should we use comma to make a compound adjectives for a noun and when with a dash?
Hi Ahmad,
If the first adjective is modifying the second adjective and both together modify the noun, use a hyphen. If each is working individually to modify the noun, then use a comma.
an excellent explanation, I wasn’t sure about this but now I know what it takes using it on my writing…A three-year-experienced teacher appreciates your kind a lot…
This site is interesting and understandable. I hope it will help me to improve my english. Thank you, Adam! I can’t wait to watch your next lesson. :)
I didn’t catch one moment in test. The adjective state-of-the-art in 9th question consists of four words, but you told only about 2 and 3 words. Hope you understood me
Hi Elizaveta,
Commonly they are 2 or 3, but, technically, they can be any number. You won’t see too many long ones. I should have mentioned that in the video.
Hello there, long time no see.
I just wanted to ask about one thing — the dash. I just typed “ten year old boy” in google, and I got plenty of articles where you have the phrase written as it is above.
I rarely see the dashes, and maybe it’s just because of IT, but people here simply don’t use them at all. We just write, for instance, “104 key keboard”, “24 bit color”, etc. Sometimes we could just join the words making something like 104key, 24bit, etc. So does the dash really matter? Should we use it? Does it make it more understandable for an English native speaker?
I know that in my language there are also that kind of words, but I don’t use the dash here either, and I don’t think that people have issues with that. :)
I agree with you Morfik. And I have to say that many people don’t use ‘hyphen’. Yet it is grammar after all.
Hi Morfik,
Long time no see ;)
To be fair, most people will likely get your meaning even without the dash. However, there will be those who will not. As for seeing articles without them, how many are published in native English publications? (You will not likely see dashless compounds in Canada, the US, UK, etc.). As Katrin mentioned, they are the technically correct grammatical structure and are important.
Just make sure to be clear that your small-town friend comes from a small town, not that your small town friend is small and is from a town (as opposed to a city) ;)
Very usefull lesson! Thank you, Adam!
you`re great as usual Adam
just a tiny question you said brand new car and it was written without a hyphen . isn`t that a compound adjective ??? thank you
Hi Poloo,
Actually it’s not because brand modifies new, not the noun. When both adjectives work together to modify the noun, then they are compounded.
Does this help?
great lesson it was very useful
Was a 10-question no-brainer, Adam
100 ✔
lol. Not for everybody, Antonella.
I’m glad it was easy for you, though. :)
Thank you for this excellent lesson, Adam.
How about medical compound adjective?
“Intra- abdominal mass” or “intraabdominal mass”?
Hi Akkapulu,
That’s a little too specific for this site, though I would recommend getting a medical style guide to find out abut those terms (AMA-American Medical Association style guide).
Hope this helps.
Very useful lesson. I hope to learn and practise your teaching soon!
Great lesson, Adam!!
9/10.
Hi Adam, how´s it going?
I watched your video class about “3 tips for sounding like a native speaker” and i loved it .
I´m brasilian and we have a lot of problems with PRONUNCIATION and not “pronountiation” ha ha ha..So, i would like to watch more videos with you about this topic because could help me a lot and i love your accent because is very clear to understand. Thank you and im looking forward to watch you again…
Kisses :0)
I’ll get on it Cleo :)
Very good lesson!, thank you.
Im confuse
Great lesson!
Awesome! Very useful lesson. Thank you Adam!
nice lesson sir
Do we use look in on to talk about something to take care of and look after to talk about someone to take care of?
Hi Singhiii,
Look in on means to check and make sure someone/thing is alright. Look after means to take care of.
Thank you very much
Thank u Adam. But why ”state-of-the-art”???
The most recent stuff, e.g., This car has state-of-the-art GPS
Hi TingYun,
Al the words work together as one to modify the noun that follows. It means the newest, latest, most up to date.
If someone wants to practice please add me (ninguem00001 – skype) :)
Thank you Adam , this lesson is very useful
I got 9 out of 10. Thanks Adam, I now more understand the use of compound adjective.
Hey! I believe that engVid should make something to get this website even better like if we were rising level as long as we were taking the quizzes, it would get more interactive. =) hugs
That’s a great idea. I’ll pass it on to Management. Who knows…maybe it could become as addictive as Candy Crush.
A very important subject. Thank you so much.
Can you make a lesson about the word(regard) and its common uses in English?
I’ll see what I can do Muhamad :)
It is good friend but I don’t understood you but I going to study more ok tank you
Hi Adam thanks for the lesson could you pleaese do a lesson how to use the Past Perfect Tense?
Hi Iedan,
If you type past perfect into the search box at the top of the page you will see a few lessons about it already there. Some of the other teachers have already covered this.
Let me know if you have any questions about it though.
Thank you Adam
It is very interesting for me to learn English here on EngVid.
To EngVid moderators…
I’m sorry for spamming. Please do not block me. I will not spam. I tried to find features (we call them bugs). As I see, there is kind of parser, which removes “” and maybe some other tags. So, I was able to send an empty message. Another “feature”, when I wanted to leave a comment, I was not asked to log in, nether I could send a message. Later I figured out this, I logged it, and sent a message.
Good luck, you guys!
Hey, we won’t say no to free QA testing. :P Thanks for letting us know, I’ll pass this on. And make sure your email’s up-to-date in case we need to contact you for more details!
Thanks for the video Mr.Adam
thanks for this great explanation .
Would you please give some information ,rules about translation into English. thanks
Hi Nour,
Translating is just about writing well. You still need to capture the meaning of the original text, but make it interesting for the English reader.
There are many good sites for translating rules though. Just Google it :)
I have to bone up on this lesson because I want to improve my english before visiting Canada. There is another verb that I’ve learned with Adam today. Thank you, man! You’re a very nice teacher. I want to be able to express correctly with an English-speaking person some day.
Thank you Adam
Hi Adam. May I ask something? Recently I have watched a video on Youtube, which was called ‘English Conversation 01’, on(in) Trung Mai’s channel. One thing confused me there.
There is a dialog between man and woman there:
1 What kind of foodS do you like?
2 I like all kindS of foodS.
From a logical point of view there must be letter ‘S’ at the end of ‘kind’ in the first sentence. (Please help me)
I couldn’t find any other video, where people talk to each other so long on different topics. But I’m not sure about that video now. Could you help? Bye.
Hi Katrin,
When we ask generally about a topic, we ask in the singular (kind of food) thinking that there will be a favourite. If the answer is more than one, then we can pluralize.
Not sure if this is what you meant, though. :)
I just didn’t understand – is the first sentence right or not…
What kind of foodS do you like? this is ok.
What kind of food do you like? this is ok too ;)
9/10 I think I got a headache with the Tom’s three eight-week puppies.
lol.
Thanks, Adam.
Could you make a video about prizes/awards?
e.g. first prize/first runner-up/1st group or team prize(?),etc.
I don’t know the names of different prizes/awards.
Besides this, one more question:
‘encompass’ and ‘include’ what is the difference?
Thanks.
Sorry, get one more question:
to create a group in/on whatsapp
Which one is correct? in or on?
Thanks.
Hi Sophie,
An awards lesson sounds good. I’ll get on it.
encompass is more like surrounds and generally means cover (though still a synonym for include). Include generally means within a set thing.
The course encompasses all the writers of the 20th century and include writers from all over the worl.
Make a group on Whatsapp.
Hope this helps :)
Thank you, Adam.
Nice lesson as always.
I am confused about 10-storey building and 10-storeyed building
or it is just the differences of British & American usage?
Please clear me out!
Hi Thidara,
It might be an AM vs BR thing, but to be honest, I wouldn’t write 10-storeyed. That being said, I would write a three-legged dog. The -ed ending has more a sense of possession, while without is a measurement. In other words a 10-storey building tells me about the height of the building, while a three-legged dog has three legs.
Does this help?
Thank you so much for the reply
You did well explain.
Yes, it is very helpful.
Reading through all the comments and replies, I can’t even thank you enough for your effort, patience to reply each comment.
I just like you 1000% more :)
10/10 just watching your video. Thanks Adam. Very useful
Just as addition, “My son just started playing” and “My son has just started playing” have the same idea? I’ve studied english for a few semesters and still haven’t gotten this.
Hi Gigio,
Technically, it should be my son has just started… but most native speakers will not bother with the ‘has’ in everyday speech. Shortcuts are quite common in spoken English.
100/100!!! That’s very nice!!
Adam I’m little bit confused by these compound adjectives. How can I get know them easily.
Hi Sairam,
You can watch the video again, but if you have a specific question about them, please ask me here and I will do my best to help out.
It was an amazing lesson that I’ve never heared about it
But is it necessary to write the hyphen in essays ?
Like if I want to write I have a 10-year-old nephew can I write it without hyphen I have a 10 year old nephew
Hi Rena,,
It depends: if you are taking the IELTS, TOEFL or other exam, it will be marked incorrect. Otherwise, it’s your choice :)
Hi Adam.
I need your help so much, because i don’t know how can i strat to learn english or should i begin. Thank you if you answer.
Hi Reza,
Well, you’ve already started by coming to Engvid :)
At the beginning you should build up your vocab by doing a lot of reading. then practice using the language at every opportunity.
Hi Adam,
I want basic English Grammar videos such as, nouns,Adjective, sentences, parts of speech, articles, punctuation , Direct and Indirect speech. Please do let me know availability of these videos
Hi Ambadas,
You can do a search in the search box at the top of the page for specific language points. Otherwise, keep watching as we load new material all the time.
Very useful lesson
100% score… nice
Hello! Mr.Adam could you making a video about Phrasal verb “Carry” PLEASE
Will do Dunya :)
Hello, Adam, I love your way of teaching and explaining something. I have been learning from engVid since a few years ago. I love this site sooo much. :-D Would you kindly make a lesson on how to use CONFUSE & CONFUSED, please. Thank you. :-)
Hi Bontot,
Thanks :)
I’m not sure what specific issue you’re asking about, but to confuse someone means to make them confused. Confused is a feeling someone has when they don’t understand something.
Does this help?
firstly, thank you for reading and replying my commenet here. :-)
I often mixed up those things. CONFUSE has some meanings and CONFUSED can be the past tense of CONFUSE and it also an adjective form. Sometimes I couldn’t distinguish which one is the past tense of the verb CONFUSE and the adjective one.
I’d be happy if you would give me some more explanations. Thanks
oh, OK. In this case, you need to look at the whole sentence and understand the position and function of the word in the sentence. Is the word acting like a verb in the past? then it must be a verb. Is it describing someone’s feeling? then it’s an adjective.
I am interested in this topic. (main verb is am, so interested is a feeling/adjective)
This topic interested me when I was younger. (main verb is interested)
same applies to confused.
Does this help?
I see. I got the picture. Thank you. :-)
Thanks for your time Adam.
hello–i am very gratfull for this beneficial course professor—but if you dont mind-i would like to ask a question–the rule you showed on the blackboard–can it be applied to all cases–i mean if we take the example of—blood-sucking leech which means leech that suck blood—can we transform **virus destroy cells can it be transform into cell-destroying virus–i mean can this rule be applied to all cases and-thank you
hello professor–i have some issues about two nouns together like chair leg which means leg of the chair—vegetable garden–garden contain vegetablesa summer holiday-holiday in summer–a war film-film about war–can we suppress in every case the preposition and transform it into two nouns–and thank you professor
hello again–there are other problems that hinder the process of speaking-which is present and past participles put before the noun as adjectives—if we say flying bird it means bird that fly-or commanding officer–officer that command–but can all other cases be possible sir–thank you in advance professor
Hi Splinter,
As for compound adjectives: the examples you gave were good. In most cases the rule applies, but sometimes the two words can be combined into one (bloodsucking leech). The best way to be sure is to check the dictionary.
Compound nouns place two nouns together where the first acts as an adjective to the second. We usually do this to avoid the preposition and shorten the sentence.
Participles are tricky. you can only move them before the noun if there are no other words involved:
The window that was broken was fixed– the broken window was fixed.
The window that was broken last week — cannot be reduced to the participle and moved, but– the window broken last week was fixed. (if you move the participle before the noun, you have the “last week” dangling and not clearly modifying anything.
Does this help?
I don’t know how, but I score 100. I think this is very confuse for me. For example,I never had used hyphen before in adjectives…
Well, good job anyway Bergvolk :)
It’s just another or many grammar points to work on.
recently we had a orthographic reform in Brazilian Portuguese. Rules for compound names using hyphen also was changing. I have to reprogram my mind… Thanks for the incentive. :)
I got 9 of 10. thanks Adam.
thank you so much.i like your tattoo sir
Thanks Soe :)
1 mistake (dark-heiry) done. Adam, by the way, how do you name in Canada forest blood-suckers: mite or tick? Many thanks for Your lessons
Hi Mr. Igor,
We actually have both mites AND ticks. They’re two different insects. :)
Why some verbs are participle with –ing– . Good teaching
Hi Roxfajardo,
That’s a topic for a whole lesson. I will get this to you :)
Very useful lessons, tks Adam!
I’d like to know with you are available to do private classes by skype or if you could recommend some teacher that could do it.
Tks for your time.
Hi Nakalissi,
You can check my site: writetotop.com :)
Mr Adam thank you for the lesson
Very useful lessons for me
Thank you Mr.Adam you have a cristal explanation
Thank you dear Adam.It was very useful for me
Thanks Adam! It was a great and useful lesson.
Thank u so much Adam. Your lesson is so helpful for me writing skill. :)
Thank you so much it was so helpfull ,,
But i got confused about when it comes before the noun and the verb,
you said that in this example : …good-looking girl ” it came before the
verb ..where is the verb ?
if it was ” looking” .. so why you told us that good looking is one word
not two part ..
Again thanx for reading my comment ..
Thanks everybody :)
Hello Adam, I’m Hna. I’ve just watched your lessons few days ago and OMG It’s amazing and very helpful for me. I really have some problems on writing skill. My English is not really good. But thanks to you, now I get better. Thanks :) Btw, my mom said you are handsome :)
Thanks Hna (and your mom) :)
Good luck
Thank you Adam I hope for that
I got 5/10 failed
No Haferlin,you succeeded in learning that you need to practice a bit harder ;)
tks, Adam , i got 9 , very interesting topic.
Thank u for providing the basic concepts.
Can u give us some lessons on root words to improve our vocabulary.
Will do Ch.
got 9 correct out of 10.
:) great lesson and many many thanks.
Hi Adam. I’ve watched lesson about gerunds recently. And now got a little bit confused. Would you please make it clear, what the difference between gerunds and participle.
Hi Mark,
A gerund is a noun of activity. It is usually used as a subject or object of a clause. A participle is a clause (adjective or adverb) that has been reduced to a phrase. It cannot be used as a noun as it “contains” the subject and verb of the clause that was reduced.
Feeling happy, I went to sleep (as I was feeling happy, I went to sleep)- participle (feeling)
I love sleeping-gerund (sleeping)
Does this help?
Hi again, more or less, actually. In simple sentences difference quite clear. But in other tenses such as active past and passive past it is still unclear. The point is that i’m comprehend a meaning. But if try to explain someone it turns out i’m dont understand. As say, you understand something to the degree to wich you able to explain it somebody else. Thank you enormous for reply)))
good!
Thank you, Adam!
You mean: storey and storeys H
Yes :)
Thanks Briklend
Thank You! Adam! My English grammar is improving a lot. Great Lessons!
Thank you very much,you are the one
Hi Adam, thanks a bunch for this incredible lesson.
This site is helping me a lot with my English.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. You’re a great teacher!
Teacher, I couldn’t dowload your video at engvid.com. All video of this Website was revented dowload?
Hi Nguyenlongbien,
Yes, sorry. They’re not downloadable. You can watch them online only.
Why the last guestion was 300 wards not 300-ward
Thanks a lot.
Can I say “an english-speaker friend” ?
Hi Elias,
English-speaking friend
thank you
Hi Adam,
Can I post the task 1 of IELTS here .If you can evaluate as I am facing problems in self evaluation.
Thanks
This is very much helpful lesson. I’m very much proud for being a part of here. This is my first comment. Hope I will be able to improve my English learning. Everybody help me please.
Very useful lesson. Thanks again, Adam!
Thank you Adam! I had only 2 wrong. You are a great teacher! I have a doubt: About the pronunciation of the -ing. We need to pronounce the -g or not? Thanks again. God bless you!
all the lessons initiated by Adam re awesome with a variety of details.i have one question for the reading comprehension ,whic kind of sites do u advice me to follow daily,?
Wonderful video. :) I have also seen hyphens being used, for what seemed like, to create commas in sentences and/ or paragraphs. But, how do you know the correct time to use them and are their rules for them being used for that specific purpose?
Hi Adam,
I understood your explanation with the sentence “I have a 10-year-old nephew”. But, is it wrong to write,”I have a 10 year old nephew”?
Hi ADAM,
is it wrong to write, “sun dried tomatoes”?
Thank you!!! The lesson is helpful.
it’s hard
i can 80 mark only
thank a lot. Adam …..you are the best
hi Adam, Wonderful Video!!!
I would like to know can you rate me IELTS Writing Task 2 essay. as this is my weak point … :(
Thanx a lot
i found this lesson pretty usefull .
Perfect teaching as usual
Hi Adam, thanks for this lesson. May I ask that if using this technique(compound adj) is helpful for ielts writing exam to get a higher score? And if yes, is there any rules to build this kind of adj?
Hi Adam! Thank you for lesson! I have one question. In your lesson you put a comma in the example: “5, 10-page essays”, but in test there was the sentence without comma after the numeral: “Tom is giving away his dog’s three eight-week-old puppies.”. So my question is should we always put comma in that case or not?
Many thanks, Adam.
thanks
Thank you.
hi master
which are the sentence is correct? and others sentence why not to correct
she has black hair.
2. she has black haired
3. she has black-haired.
4. she has a black-haired girl.
5. she has a black-haired girl.
She has black hair. you can also say ¨she is a black-haired girl. hope that suits you. have a good day, bye.
It was pretty difficult lesson for me. I got 9 correct answers. Thanks.
Great lesson,Adam, as usual.
Now, the in-law thing.
Do these words always take a hyphen?
Mother-in-law, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law,
because they usually aren’t adjective.
Are they actually compound words, too?
Hope you read this and whenever possible
clear my doubt.
Thanks in advance.
thanks Adam it’s really helpful in writing, but I need more advanced compound adj. lesson .
Clear lesson.Thanks a lot but,I’d like to ask you that when we use the body parts,can I say “she is a thick-lipped girl?
hi i not speak and write english complete
you really do such a great work Adam! you have a clear, straight and logic method of teaching, you’re alive and having the best understanding of the learning process! Congratulations and thank you very much!
Sir, could you explain to me that what does state-of-the-art technology mean (in Question8)?
Many thx!
that was so interesting lesson for me. but let us get back to (she is good looking) we Didn’t add hyphen b
sorry. yes we didn’t add a hyphen because we mean (she is good who looking) right??
Could you answer me teacher adam
It’s a very useful lesson! Thank you, Adam :)
Excellent lesson. How do we know how to form compound adjectives like human-like; energy-efficient, etc? Thank you!
Hi Adam,
Thanks a lot for all the lessons.
I always get confused with the order of adjectives (ex. old tall modern building). Which should come first; origin, color, size, age, etc.?
hi MR.Adam..i just wanted to thank you for this lesson.you are a great teacher..your lessons are incredible perfect..i really wish you ALL THE BEST in your life..thanks a lot again,and again i apologise to all readers for my mistakes in my comment..they have to be here,i am sure))
I’ve understood the lesson but the example you said well-known and well-knowing what is the difference ?? my pleasure
Hi adam
I like your teaching,you are a good teacher.
Hi Adam
I like your teaching, you are a good teacher.
Hi Adam,
I was just curious is there any rhyme or reason behind whether you use the -ing or -ed participle? For example, why is it slow-moving and not slow-moved. I know the second is obviously incorrect for a native speaker but I know my students will ask.
Great lesson!
Hi Adam, thank you very much for the lesson.
Great lesson Adam.In this Quiz I score full marks. :-)
Thanks Adam. The lesson is really helpful.
Thanks Adam for your wonderful lesson. But I’ve recently realized that in each IELTS listening exam at least there is one question dealing with hyphenated adjective or compound nouns such as “minibus” or “seafood”. Your explanation concerning the former was entirely comprehensive, nevertheless I have difficulty with the latter whether it must be written “mini bus” and “sea food” or “minibus” and “seafood”. My question is what’s the rule about using space or not between two components for these type of nouns? I will be grateful if you can help me.
Hi Adam
I have a doubt in the sentence ” I got off campus placement”. Will there be any hyphen between off and campus?
I get this doubt because you didn’t use hyphen in “brand new car”
is the preposition “at” used with craving or “for” used with craving or none of these, as I read somewhere “I am craving chocolates”
I cannot watch your videos on my mobile phone,why？
Hi Adam,
It was really a hard-pressed task for me to understand compound adjectives prior to listening this lecture.
Would you please share some information on using comma, semicolon etc.
Thanks a lot for your lesson, Adams! Could I just ask you 1 question? When we use -ed and -ing in a compound adjective? I mean why we have to use Big-boned in stead of Big-boning? :) Waiting for your reply! :)
i know it’s part-time job not part-timed job but i need an explanation please
Hi Adam Sir I am from pakistan,I have taken some lectures and I have learn many concepts .Lot of thanks.
I made it all 10/10 for second attached. I guess not bad, isn’t it? :) Thank you Adam.
Hello, teacher, Mr. Adam. I have done the quiz after watching this video, but I have a problem about the tenth question—
10. Along with your application, please submit a letter of up to __________ explaining why you want this job.
•300-words •300 words (correct) •300-word (false)
•300 word
I choose “300-word” because I think that “300-word” is an adjective to describe explaining, but my answer is incorrect. Teacher, would you please explain the one to me. Thank you very much, teacher.
I hope Adam will answer your question soon, but in the meanwhile, here’s mine:
Question 10: Along with your application, please submit a letter of up to 300 words (which are) explaining why you want this job. In this sentence, ‘Explaining’ is not used as a noun; hence, your answer –‘300-word explaining’– is incorrect.
You could say:
‘…please submit a letter of an up-to-300-word explanation of why you want this job. OR
‘…please submit an up-to-300-word letter explaining why you want this job.
Hello,Lfabian2013,
Thanks a lot for your answer. I’ve got it. Thanks again. I wish you all good luck.
Super adam sir
thank you very much!
Hello Adam
I really like your video! I have a questions, could you help me with it, please? We know that some adjectives end in ed ( to describe how a person feels) and others end in ing ( to describe a a characteristic of something or someone) the question is, why is this sentences correct? men’s relaxed-fit blue jeans. Isn’t it correct to say men’s relaxing-fit blue jeans because we are mentioning the characteristic of something? I hope you can help me with it. I will appreciate a lot.
I got 100/100;-]
Hi, Adam!
First, THANK you a lot for you work and lessons. As a teacher by myself, I could say- you are just 100 of 100.
I think I’ve seen all your lessons and I’ve never put any comments, but now I have 1 remark:
Please, look at ex. 10. I refer the word “300-word” to “EXPLAINING” and not to “letter”. So, I put the hyphen in between.
Is it possible- I’m right as well?!
thank you a lot in advance,
Ronen
Question 10: “Along with your application, please submit a letter of up to 300 words, explaining why you want this job.” In this case, “explaining” is a gerund which is used as an adverb to modify the whole sentence. Hence, “300-word explaining” is incorrect.
You could say:
‘…please submit a letter of an up-to-300-word explanation of why you want this job. OR
‘…please submit an up-to-300-word letter explaining why you want this job.
I got 8. Your lessons make us practice harder.
Thank you Adam. Very useful !
Hi Adam!
I fund this sentence in a book: Although most grain crops have light dry pollen and are wind-pollinated. Why does “wind-pollinated” have a hyphen whereas “light dry” doesn’t?
That’s a really good question.
I hope Adam answers, but in the meanwhile, here’s mine: “light” and “dry” both describe “pollen”. When there are multiple adjectives before a noun, we don’t hyphenate them, though we sometimes add commas – “fat sleepy cat” or “fat, sleepy cat”. “Wind-pollinated” is different – it’s a shorter way of saying “pollinated by wind”. When we combine adverbs and verbs like this, we usually use hyphens. E. g. “store-bought” (bought at a store), “hand-sewn” (sewn by hand), “fast-acting” (acting quickly—used to describe things like medicines or cleaning products).
Appreciated,keep doing…..
Wonderful lesson, Adam. :) Something similar to help comprehend compound nouns, especially their pluralization, would just be great. Ex: passer-by is pluralized as passers-by and not passer-bys; however, compound nouns with plural suffixes are common too. How do I get that right? Thanks
Very helpful lesson. Thank you.
Although I made a 100-scored quiz, I’m not quite sure when to use past or present participle to create a compound adjective. Lucky guess, I think.
Noun + Past Participle vs Noun + Present Participle
ex: a wind-powered generator, mouth-watering cherries
Adjective + Past Participle vs Adjective + Present Participle
ex: an old-fashioned dress, a long-lasting memory
Please clarify the matter for me. Thank you.
? /?
Thanks Adam ???
Appreciated, Adam,
I am planning to give the Gre exam, what can I do to improve my reading capabilities. These days I am totally devoted on learning English. While practicing reading comprehension I often get the wrong sense. What can I do to improve my reading qualities, please suggest.
Hi Adam
does this sentence below is compound nouns?
The on-call doctor did not sleep all night.
Hello Adam,
when explaining about the lion, you said, “A lion who eats people” was that correct? Isn’t it “which”?
Thanks Mr. Adam!
Very good lesson
Thank you Adam! Because you explained clearly, I’ve got 100%! You are a great teacher. If I had been learning English with you and other Engvid teachers, I would be fluent in English by now.
thanks, was very good
Although I got 100% marks, I still feel confused and need to watch this lesson again.
Dear Adam,
Thanks for your useful lesson.
But something that annoys me is the difference between compound noun and compound adjective.
How can we distinguish them? The only way is to memorise different formulas for them?
Furthermore, some words follow the same rule but have different part of speech.
while “quick-thinking” and “good-looking” are adjectives, “dry-cleaning” is noun. Why?
Thank you so much
Hey Adam.
Thanks man. you doing a wonderful job.
I have a question though.
See you said that the compound adjectives are indeed a type of adjective for themselves right?
like grey is an adjective and grey-haired is a compound adjective.
We know that after a “to be” verb we use adjectives as well. Like we say :
he is tall.
Then why cant we use compound adj the same way and say: He was gray-haired. or She is 4-year-old.
Thanks man again.
Hi Adam!
Thank you so much for this and all the other lessons. They are great and helping me a lot in writing papers for my doctoral studies!
I have a question, please. I’m not sure whether the following examples are right because I’m not sure whether the “compounding adjectives” are really adjectives.
– Example 1: We included grey-literature data sources.
– Example 2: We used four strategies for data-source search.
In your example of “fast-healing cut” it is clear for me that “fast-healing” is an adjective because you can say “the cut is fast-healing”. But in my examples is not OK to say “the data sources are grey literature” or “the searches are data source” (the ideas are “sources of grey literature” and “searches for data sources”).
Tks!!!
1. Ernest Hemingway is the ___________ author of The Old Man and the Sea.
world famous
world-famous
………………….
the question number one was not fitted into any categories that Adam explained!
can anyone help me the reason why it needs hyphen?
It would be world-famous as you must’ve seen, the reason being, as Adam explained we should use a compound adjective [Hyphenated] if we are to put it before the actual noun in this case being ‘author’
9/10! Good! This is my highest mark I got in the Adam’s course.
I’m sorry this might be dumb but, I have a few queries regarding hyphenations.
Is it a high schooler or a high-schooler as in, I am a [high schooler].
and finally, would it be uncountable or un-countable.
Thankyou
Hello Sam! When the compound is after the noun, as it is in your example given, it is not hyphenated. If it is before the noun, you should use the hyphen.
And I’ve always seen uncountable, no dash.
Hi Adam,
I have a simple remark for the answer of the first question of the quiz (“world-famous”)
It seems this was none of the cases that you mentionned in the lesson.
This is a case of NOUN + ADJECTIVE.
Thank you.
Thank you Teacher Adam. I got 100.
It is complicated, not easy. thank you, teacher Adam.
Hello Adam! I want to ask you something: in the compound strong-willed, what justifies the -ed in will? Should it be because it is a personality trait? By the way, your classes always give me the best way to explain grammar to my students, thank you!!
Thank you very much. I think the plural form of *storey* is storeys not *stories*
Hi! Where can I find a list of compound adjectives related to ‘blooded’..Thank you!
hi Adam! the mistake ı made is about the last question. ı still try to see where ı did wrong but can’t find. Why’s it not “300-word explaining” ı don’t understand :/ thanks for the help in advance!