One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a radio is called: ‘recording sound machine’ (‘lu-ing-ji’). But in English, it’s a radio – however, English also has many compound nouns, so let’s practise some of them. Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.
| A | B |
| hair | processor |
| fire | driver |
| sun | drier |
| screw | post |
| word | time |
| arrival | bin |
| rubbish | engine/truck |
| sign | set |
The answers to the previous post are bookcase, noticeboard, rush hour, seat belt, departure lounge, pocket money, timetable, and raincoat.
I’ll end with a question. Look at the picture at the top of this post. It shows two firemen or firefighters [the second word can include women], but why are these compound nouns written as one words, yet rubbish bin is written as two? Why do we write raincoat as one word and not two?
I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .
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