How to Determine Compound Word Status
Languages are constantly changing and evolving. New words in English are often formed by compounding, or joining, two familiar ones. For example, when people began discussing fair labor practices the word "sweat," referring to difficult labor, was combined with "shop," referring to a factory, to create "sweatshop." Because compound words are tied to language change, they frequently change forms themselves, moving from two words, to a hyphenated word, to a single word. All of these forms are considered compound words, but the grammatical rules governing their use are often vague and difficult to determine without a dictionary or style guide.
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Instructions
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Look for smaller words within your word. A closed form, or "solid" compound word is a single word made up of two shorter words. "Bluebird," "paperclip" and "citywide" are examples of solid compound words.
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Listen to compound words spoken out loud. The first word/syllable of compounds are usually stressed while word pairs are stressed equally. Try saying "blueberries" and "blue berries." When you say "blueberries," referring to the specific berry, you stress the "blue." But you stress "blue" and "berries" equally when referring to any berries that are blue.
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Consider the meaning of the word or phrase. Frequently the segments of a compound word work independently but combine to communicate a specific idea. For example, "bluebird" refers to a particular species of bird. A "blue bird" on the other hand is an adjective-noun phrase describing any bird with blue coloring. It would not be hyphenated or combined into a solid compound because it's too general to be a word.
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Read the entire sentence. The placement of your compound can determine whether or not you need to hyphenate it. Many compound word phrases use hyphens when they modify an upcoming word, but not when they follow it. For example you hyphenate "he is a part-time teacher" but not "he teaches part time."
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Review a list of open compound words such as "post office" or "science fiction." Think about what is different about these word pairs when compared to other noun-adjective combinations. Most native speakers use these pairs as if they were a single word, with a strongly defined meaning. For example, "science fiction" is a single, specific writing style, as opposed to "good fiction" which links two ideas "good" and "fiction."
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Consult a dictionary. The rules for compound word formation often appear arbitrary because the English language is constantly changing. As a result, you should look up any words you think might be compounds. Keep in mind that hyphenated compounds are especially tricky because they represent the transitional form.
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References
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