Curso de Inglés Avanzado Lección 8

Compound adjectives are adjectives that have two or more words and usually have hyphens between them.

For example:

Part-time employment
An eleven-year-old boy
A good-looking woman
A red-eyed zombie
A well-known actor

Some adjectives are formed in the following way:
Adjective/adverb + verb + ing

Examples:

A good-looking woman (a woman who looks good)
A time-saving device (a device that saves time)
A slow-moving robot (a robot that moves slowly)

Compound adjectives can also be formed in other ways:

- a one-eyed monster (a monster with one eye)
- a well-brought up girl (a girl who has been well brought up)
- a two-seater car (a car with two seats)

Match the following compound adjectives with nouns to make collocations.

1. a two-faced
2. a light-fingered
3. a pot-bellied
4. a muscle-bound
5. a toffee-nosed
6. an absent-minded

Check your answers.

Complete the following sentences with compound adjectives (in the correct form) from the previous exercises. Follow the example.

1. We watched on TV last night. It was so funny that we didn’t stop laughing from the beginning to the end.
2. When we travelled around the mountains of Nepal, we saw on the sides of the road.
3. I hate going to the gym because I have the fat body of a and the gym is full of young men with bodies of .
4. Our neighbour emigrated from Syria after all his family were killed and his house was bombed and completely destroyed. It’s .
5. My sister-in-law only drinks the most expensive wine, only travels first class and refuses to stay in a hotel that has less than 5 stars. She’s such .
6. Since my husband and I gave up our office jobs and started our internet business, we’ve been enjoying .
7. My boss insists that we often sacrifice our weekends and work on Saturday for the good of the company, while he plays golf and takes extra-long holidays. He’s such a.
8. As they entered the dark house during the violent storm they heard and saw a bloody knife fall down the stairs in the moonlight.

Check your answers.

Listen and repeat.