How to Determine Compound Word Status

When compound words appear in written form with no space between the two individual words or with a hyphen between the two words; it is easy to tell they are compounds, but have you ever wondered how to know if two words form a compound when there is no hyphen and they appear as two separate words, or when you hear them spoken? There are a couple of simple tests that can be used to help determine compound word status.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine if the compound word is made up of an adjective and a noun, or two nouns.
2. If the compound is made up of an adjective and a noun, check to see if:
   
   1. It can be pre-modified.
   2. It can take the comparative form.
   3. It can appear with the noun as the subject.
3. If the answer to any of the questions in Step 2 is yes, the phrase should not be considered a compound word.
   
   For example, the phrase rainy day can be pre-modified to say very rainy day, it can take the comparative form rainier day and it can appear with the head noun as subject; The day is rainy.
4. If the answer to the questions in Step 2 is no, the phrase should be considered a compound word.
   
   For example, the phrase big talk cannot be modified to very big talk, bigger talk or The talk is big. Therefore, big talk should be considered a compound word because it cannot be pre-modified, take the comparative form, or be in the predicative position.
5. If the compound is made up of two nouns, the situation is a bit different. A compound made up of two nouns can be pre-modified; however, the modifier must be appropriate to the rightmost word, or head constituent, of the compound.
6. Take hall way as an example of a compound made up of two words because when it is pre-modified with a word that is not an appropriate modifier for the head constituent, the resulting expression is odd. For example, wooden hall way doesn’t sound right because wooden is not an appropriate modifier for the head constituent way; whereas, wide hall way does not sound odd because wide is an appropriate modifier for the head constituent way. Therefore, hall way should be considered a compound word.

Tips & Warnings

• These are general guidelines to determine compound word status, but most linguists agree that there are no absolute, fail-proof tests to indicate whether or not a word is a compound.