Compound adjectives in English Language

Examples of compound adjectives include:

•  "well-behaved," 
• "ever-changing," and 
• "light-hearted."

Special cases to consider when using compound adjectives. One is when the words are hyphenated, such as "well-behaved." Another is when the words are written separately, like "much loved." The last one is the open compound adjective, that is written as two separate words, and no hyphen is used, like "cold water".

Examples of these special cases include:

• Hyphenated: "well-behaved"
• Separated: "much loved"
• Open compound adjective : "cold water"

Questions that can be used to identify compound adjectives include:

• What adjective is being used to describe the noun?
• Are there multiple words being used together to describe the noun?

Practical uses of compound adjectives include:

• Writing product descriptions for online shopping, such as "hand-woven baskets"
• Describing a person's character or personality, such as "hard-working"
• Describing the weather, such as "freezing cold"
• Describing a place, such as "busy city"

Exercises:

1. Complete the sentence with a compound adjective: "The ___ flowers were beautiful." 
2. (Answer: "The bright-colored flowers were beautiful.")

1. Identify the compound adjective in the sentence: "The well-behaved children were a pleasure to teach." 
2. (Answer: "well-behaved")

1. Write a sentence that uses a compound adjective to describe a person: "She was a __________ person." 
2. (Answer: She was a kind-hearted person")

1. Write a sentence that uses a compound adjective to describe a place: "The ____________ streets were always crowded." 
2. (Answer: "The busy city streets were always crowded.")

1. Write a sentence that uses a compound adjective to describe an object: "The ____________ cake was delicious." 
2. (Answer: "The homemade cake was delicious.")