Compound words can be written as one word, as hyphened words or as two seperate words. IE: shoelace, jellyfish, sister-in-law , blue-green, three-fourths , sea lion, mountain range and orange juice. This always messed up my kids, but after a few days of going over compound words they got it.
Lol, I'm sooooo not good at this game. I couldnt imagine how annoying it would be to a third grader! Poor kids! Hopefully there arent a bunch of parents out there feeling like their child is behind cause of this book. Letter writing time!!
I'd like to hear other's take on this because, speaking from a collegiate point of view, a compound word is ONE word (no spaces, only hyphens; and hyphens are only and always used in certain cases).
Here is a website about compounds words. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm And the Grammer book that we followed was Grade 6 Language Arts by Hartcourt Family Learning and these were the examples given: Underline the compound word in each sentence. The beach is at the foot of a mountain range. They looked out across the blue-green water. Diane spotted a sea lion on a distant rock.
So...is compound word a compound word? LOL! My gut reaction is that a compound word is ONE word, not two seperates. But then I read: "In English, there are three forms of compound words: closed form (notebook), hyphenated form (mother-in-law), and open form (real estate)." I think I would consider a sea lion a compound word, since if you seperate them, you cannot have the whole. But mountain range I would NOT consider a compound word, because you CAN seperate them. Mountain, in my mind, describes the KIND of range. Sea, however doesn't describe the kind of lion. A lion is something totally different. Does that make any sense at all?
I agree with Jackie. Sea means one thing. Lion means another. "Sea lion" is completely different from both of those, so it can't be separated and used alone. It's a compound word.
I would say that too but the dictionary also has mountain sheep , mountain lion , mountain goat and mountain ash listed that way ( 2 word compound) and I would consider all those words as describing the type of animal/tree not as compounds ... BUT the English language is pretty confusing so I guess if its in the dictionary that way that is what I will teach ( and in the Granmmer books too ) .
OK, let's put it this way. If I were to diagram a sentence, The mountain lion killed a calf. I would have mountain lion as the subject and killed as the verb. Calf would be the direct object. The would modify mountain lion, and a would modify calf. But the point is, I would consider mountain lionas the name of the animal. Now, if I had That mountain range looked beautiful at sunrise, I would have range as the subject, and mountain and that would both modify range. I might add that I am NOT an English major. That's just how I see it. And, fortunately, my kids won't be penalized in college for their mom's lack of understanding, lol!!! (But it is a kind of interesting discussion!) I might also add that the gigantic dictionary I mentioned as "compound sentence" as a seperate entry, but not "compound word".
Um, no, sometimes compound words just have a space - like ice cream. Post office is another. Sometimes they get written as one word or two - like trash can or trashcan - depending on the preference of the person writing it.
Wow, I've taken more English classes than anything else.. and I wouldn't consider 2 words as a 'compound' word. Not saying I'm right by any stretch- I never learned to diagram, and I think I mentioned in another post my knowledge of parts of speech is sketchy at best. Ironically, I also write LOL but I admit I do it by 'ear'. Those exercises remind me of scrabble- I'm one of the best spellers I know but I hate that game and always lose. I didn't get any of those at all. I HAVE heard of winsome and lithesome.. but that exercise is too disjointed for me.
When I took comp 2 about 8 months ago, we covered compound words; only one word counted. After writing this I asked a friend who teaches basic grammar (040/050) at another college and she agreed. She said mother-in-law is a hyphenated word and not a compound word. And she said that mountain rage is a noun with a modifier. I realize this is journalism, and not basic English, but the 2010 AP Stylebook only allows for "trash can" and not "trashcan." Point being, one must know their discipline and write accordingly.
YEAH!!! I'M RIGHT!!! Mountain DOES modity range!!! Lol!!! (I also agree with her about hyphenated words, btw!)
Its pretty basic to see that if you look up what a compound word is it will tell you the 3 forms. Every grammer site has it and so does every grammer book I have been using to teach. Hyphenated words ARE compound words by definition, its ONE of the 3 forms of compound words. There are compound modifiers but they are by definition a compound word and used as such.(link # 4) Last link is great and the word list has hyphenated and spaced compound words as well. http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/hyphenterm.htm http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/compnounterm.htm http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000127.htm http://www.spellingcity.com/compound-words.html
I find it strange that different grammar books/teachers have different information. I found out another difference in grammar programs. In Easy Grammar they teach that the only present tense is when you say something like: "She eats ice cream." NOT : "She is eating ice cream." At the website englishgrammar101 (?): it puts them together as present tense verbs. I think they are both present tense. Maybe they should just distinguish that one is a simple present tense and the other is present progressive, but they are both happening at the present time.
