Questions tagged [compounds]

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How should we make a compound adjective of an intransitive verb?

I saw a man-eating alligator. She has a man-crying poem. Eat is a transitive verb. The man-eating alligator is one that eats man. It is fine to me. But the confusion is that if we make it as “She ...
Jay Ho's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Complex sentence and Compound sentence

I was standing on the sidewalk but I was too ashamed to walk in. I was standing on the sidewalk but too ashamed to walk in. So the first one is obviously a compound sentence, but what about the ...
Rifpan Afriansyah's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
714 views

"polluted-air-related disease" or "polluted air-related disease"?

The exhaust produced by the automobile increases the rate of polluted-air-related diseases. That's my original sentence. Grammarly changed it into "polluted air-related diseases". I think ...
庄怀玉's user avatar
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0 answers
134 views

"doing that look-away thing" vs "looking away"

I found a sentence (in bold) from a children's book called Wonder by R. J. Palacio. If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed ...
Shawn Jeong's user avatar
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0 answers
18 views

Can we write compound sentences like this, using more than two conjunctions?

Example 1 I was going to mention the divorce rate, but I thought of the fact that children were there, so I did not really say it. Example 2 I was going to mention the divorce rate, but I thought ...
vincentlin's user avatar
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0 answers
55 views

three-cent-an-hour raise

I was told that compound modifiers containing a noun should have the noun in the singular, e.g., "a 20-kilometer race" and "a 40-year-old man." Which of the following is okay? A ...
Apollyon's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
147 views

How to understand 'A is as simple as B is complicated'?

I see one sentence in my book: It is easy to see that A is as simple as B is complicated. I know the subject of the sentence is "it" that is "A is as simple as B is complicated", ...
Y. zeng's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
51 views

Where to place the plural mark in 3-word compound words?

This question is similar to this one (and other on the site), but with three elements in the compound word. In a technical context, where a bin is a range of frequency values and a bin is referred to ...
mins's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
45 views

Should a past continuous be followed by past perfect continuous or past continuous?

"I was looking for my watch which had been stolen earlier" or should it be- "I was looking for my watch which was stolen earlier"
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
416 views

Hyphens or no hyphens in well(-)thought(-)through?

Which of the following is the correct form? well thought through well thought-through well-thought-through I've tried googling, and all three seem to occur to quite some extent, but does that mean ...
Helen's user avatar
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1 answer
378 views

compound adjectives with "-made"

Can compound adjectives ending in -made denote something that is made of or from a material? For example, is "seaweed-made packaging" okay?
Apollyon's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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"-style" and "-like" in compound adjectives

To describe something that looks similar to something else, English provides us style and like words to create compound adjectives. For example: Elvis–Presley-style dance Elvis–Presley-like dance Or:...
john c. j.'s user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
342 views

Hyphen usage with with multiple compound adjectives separated by or/and

I have the following question. I have a structure like this: dark-looking or sinister-looking Can I write it like this: dark- or sinister-looking
Ge To's user avatar
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1 answer
60 views

Am i using is/are correctly in these sentence?

His house and my house is close to school canteen (I used "is" instead of 'are" because we are co-owner/sharing one house) His house and my house is close to school canteen (we both ...
Bilal Zafar's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
33 views

serrated three stripes mark

Should the boldfaced phrase in the following have been "three-stripe mark" or "three-striped mark"? The toy company's designers have been faithful to the original sneaker, with ...
Apollyon's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
109 views

Are there compound words whose meanings would be changed once there is a change in stress?

I have one true-or-false question. The different stress used in a compound do not usually affect the meaning of the compound. The example used in my book to illustrate why this statement is false is ...
user112563's user avatar
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0 answers
29 views

What verb to use with Only

Which sentence is correct? Which verb should I use when only is present at the beginning of the sentence? Only me and Alia was there Only me and Alia were there
Rasi's user avatar
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1 answer
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How do compound adjectives semantically work?

For example, there are words, “omnipotent” and “godlike.” If two words are combined, does “omnipotent godlike” mean “like an omnipotent god”? …be described using five terms: “green-unripe”, “green-...
user142134's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
148 views

Ant-keeping? Or Antkeeping?

Up until now I was under the impression that hyphens are very rare in the English language. At least when it comes down to compounds. (This is different from my native language, where it is rather ...
Opifex's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
30 views

Multi-word Compound Adjectives with Past Participle [duplicate]

In the sentence: The cost overrun was due to a higher-than-budgeted consumption of electricity, should higher-than-budgeted be hyphenated? It seems to me that it should definitely be hyphenated, ...
Aaron Driscoll's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
42 views

How to understand "As luck would have it"?

When you create macros, you may want to have a clear and easy way to run each macro. A basic button can provide a simple but effective user interface. As luck would have it, Excel offers a set of form ...
Y. zeng's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
12 views

How to read this line after "and"

I was reading a book and read a sentence which is Vyasa draws attention to the dangers of lust and blind obedience to the father when Shantanu agrees to the conditions laid down by Ganga. Does and ...
Sudhir Sharma's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
47 views

Why it is "A question bank" and not "A questions bank"?

Why we call it "A question bank" or "Question bank" in a singular form of "question"? Why it is not "questions" in a plural form, 'cause it implies for many ...
NIA Team's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
68 views

What does "new technology–based solutions" mean?

New technology–based solutions Does it mean Solutions that are based on new technology or New solutions that are based on technology? I think it can read as both.
Jawel7's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can I say "The country's ongoing widely discussed problems are hopeless"

Can I use the combination of "adjective + adverb + adjective + noun" like The country's ongoing widely discussed problems are hopeless. (Or instead do I need to say ongoing widely-discussed ...
Jawel7's user avatar
  • 874
1 vote
1 answer
59 views

"A well Oxford-educated politician" OR "A well-Oxford-educated politician"?

I saw many examples like "He is an Oxford-educated politician" and I'm curious about the usage of hyphens here by adding "well" in the front. Is it "He is a well-Oxford-...
Jawel7's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
114 views

Street smart: modify adjectives with nouns?

I was confused by the roles of nouns in English. It seems that nouns can modify verbs as stated in this qeustion and adjectives in these examples: Do You Know How to Be Street Smart? ... the prior ...
Lerner Zhang's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
96 views

Adverb: Please Facebook message me?

I encountered a phrase like this: we can Monte Carlo approximate it, and it is not uncomprehensible but I wonder if we can always use a noun as an adverb? Also refer to this sentence: The reason for ...
Lerner Zhang's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
113 views

Is it '55-minutes meeting' or '55-minute meeting'?

Which of the following two constructions is correct? a 55-minute meeting a 55-minutes meeting That is, should 'minute' be followed by 's'?
Cecilie S. K's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
5k views

"Backyard" vs "Front yard" - same but different

Not really a serious English question, more like a curiosity. I am wondering, why "backyard" is written as one word but "front yard" is written as two separate words. Equivalently, ...
AIQ's user avatar
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Word + "-associated" (Simplified and clarified)

Would you agree that the expression "a ragtime-associated song" implies that those who expressed their views on this song associate it with ragtime ? While "a ragtime-related song" ...
Miles's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
31 views

Improving the sentence [closed]

"You must work hard or you will not succeed in life" How can I convert the above into simple sentence?
Infinity_hunter's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
21 views

Can I make a phrasal verb into these forms?

Clean something up with the machine cleaned-up car car-cleaning-up machine cleaning-car-up machine cleaned-with-the-machine car Four are all possible?
ABU's user avatar
  • 63
0 votes
4 answers
67 views

Translations of older or historical professions from German

Should the German term "Bauernvogt", literally meaning "peasants' bailiff" be kept as "Bauernvogt", translated to "peasants' vogt", "vogt of peasantry"...
Delter's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
46 views

For the 20 minutes cooking time

Leave the vegetables to steam over the rice for the 20 minutes cooking time https://www.collinsdictionary.com/es/diccionario/ingles-espanol/cooking-time Shouldn't the phrase be "for the 20 ...
GJC's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
26 views

Your selves, yourselves or neither?

When trying to substitute “subconscious, conscious” with the word “selves” in the following definition: Meditation- the art of becoming one with your subconscious & conscious. ...become one ...
Laura Wagoner's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
242 views

Is this grammatically correct "was and continues to be doing something"?

I'm confused by the construction "the team was and continues to be doing something". I'd simply say "the team has been doing something". But the sentence is meant to point out the persistence of ...
Word Crawler's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

three-word compound adjective hyphenation

Which is correct Robotic assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy; or Robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy. Similarly also for, Robotic assisted medial and lateral meniscus repair; or Robotic-...
Clenten's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
80 views

Using adjectives with the hyphen (-) [duplicate]

I know that some adjectives are written after the hyphen "-" like sentence one below. Actually I don't know the grammatical rule behind that, but could I replace sentence one with sentence two? ...
Mohamed kz's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
225 views

Is comma discouraged in compound predicates even within long sentences?

I'm checking my new formal document with Grammarly, and feel uncomfortable seeing it suggesting I remove the comma in many compound predicates, even in longer ones. For example, the following sentence ...
iBug's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
95 views

Worshipping or worshipper?

What’s the difference between the sentences given below? He is a God-worshipping. He is a God worshipper. To my knowledge the first one (God-worshipping) is a compound adjective, but I can’t ...
Jay Ho's user avatar
  • 391
0 votes
2 answers
36 views

User properties vs users properties

If I had a file with the properties (names, ages and the like) of the users of some app, which one sentence would be correct to say "I have a file with the user properties" or "I have a file with the ...
Denis's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
0 answers
31 views

Is it natural to say something is full-white?

This is certainly not sponsored by a washing powder brand. Would it sound natural (day-to-day basis) to say that something is "full-white", meaning white in its entirety? e.g. This surface is full-...
mjfneto's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
227 views

Should vertically carved have a hyphen?

I described this as "vertically carved characters": I was told that you usually put an hyphen when you have a verb. I did a Google search, and I found both the hyphen and hyphenless versions: [......
alexchenco's user avatar
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0 answers
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How to hyphenate an adjective+noun+gerund adjective compound?

We're used to adjective compounds, such as: a decision-making process or a cancer-causing lotion. But what if I want to add an adjective to the noun? For example: a corporate decision-...
Fra's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
736 views

Compound words with "dog" in front [closed]

I need to make two compound words with the word "dog" to be the first part of the compound word. Those words should mean; 1. person given all the hard, boring job; 2. exhausted, worn out. I would ...
Nana G.'s user avatar
  • 115
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

On the expression "sun-down"

She took a factory job working from sun-down to sun-up. (Source: Drifting ) I think sun-down expression seems to have been made from "the sun is down", but what I want to know is what is the rule ...
GKK's user avatar
  • 2,516
1 vote
1 answer
933 views

Any vs some; if S + any vs if S + some

Well, these two words drive me crazy every time I try to chew the cud in order to draw a clear line between them. ANY and SOME. Please consider the following: If you have any/some money, please let ...
Fadli Sheikh's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
63 views

Which is correct: I've (just) cancelled the trained/train armies?

Which of these phrases is correct: I've just cancelled the trained armies? Or I've cancelled the train armies? I've just played Clash of Clans and one of my friends says he has cancelled the ...
Phrangkupar Nongbet's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

There will not be after school class tomorrow, will be?

There will not be after school class tomorrow, will be ? Is this question grammatically correct ?
Indira Perera's user avatar