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 storm is called: ‘wild-wind-rain’ (‘bau-fong-uwi’). That’s exactly what it is. Just look at the above picture. So, the name is perfectly logical. But in English, we say ‘storm’. But don’t be misled: 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.

The answers to the previous post are: dining room, film star, brother-in-law, income tax, writing paper, washing machine, cheque book, and babysitter. And those two little lines in ‘brother-in-law’ are called ‘hyphens’.

I’ll end with a question. Why do some words use hyphens, and others not?

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 .