Compound Modifiers 🔗 Advanced Grammar with JenniferESL 👩🏽‍🎓👨‍🎓

One downside of getting older is that what was possible in my youth is no longer possible now.

I'm not talking about doing cartwheels or climbing trees. In recent years,

I developed a sensitivity to a lot of dyes and fragrances.

It's kind of a bummer because I really liked fruit-scented soaps rose-scented lotion and sweet-smelling shampoo.

But I don't like itchy rashes. So I just have to learn how to do without a lot of those scented products.

Are a lot of your personal care products scented? Are they clear in color or do they have dyes?

I don't miss the dyes. I just miss the fragrances.

I don't need my laundry detergent to be blue, and I don't need to put green-and-white toothpaste on my

toothbrush to know that it will taste like mint.

Well, in this video I'm not going to complain the whole time about beauty products and products

I can't use, but talking about personal care products gives us some good examples of

compound modifiers. And I think it would be useful for you to review how we form these kinds of adjectives.

If you agree, you can like this video.

I mentioned fruit-scented soaps,

rose-scented lotion, and

sweet-smelling shampoo.

Those are all examples of compound modifiers.

We can often combine words with a hyphen, and the second word of a compound

modifier is often a present or past participle.

Which is which? And how do we know to use one and not the other?

Past participles end with -ed if we form them from a regular verb.

Otherwise, we use irregular forms: the third form of a verb, like "grown" or "eaten."

Past participles can carry a passive meaning.

Someone scented the lotions.

Companies sent their lotions.

Let's change those from active to passive.

The lotions were scented.

The lotions are scented.

"Scented" is the past participle.

How are those lotion scented? What do they smell like? Let's use a noun before the past participle.

They're fruit-scented. They're rose-scented.

I remember using pear-scented body spray. That was nice.

Do you ever use melon- or eucalyptus-scented candles?

Notice that if I'm writing and I used two different nouns to form a compound modifier with the same past

participle, I still need hyphens after both nouns.

Some compounds are recognized as a single word.

But looking at them you can tell how they were formed, for example,

hand-blown glass.

If I'm ever unsure whether to hyphenate a compound modifier or not, I check the dictionary.

For example, "hand-painted." Does it take a hyphen? If you check the dictionary...

yes, it does. For example:

hand-painted tiles.

Help me form compound modifiers following this pattern: noun + past participle.

Cooks can infuse oil with citrus flavors like lemon or orange.

So what kind of oil do they make?

Citrus infused oil.

Cooks can also toss pizza dough with their hands. So what kind of pizza do they make?

Hand-tossed pizza.

Do you like almonds that are coated in sugar?

Some people do. How can we describe these almonds?

Sugar-coated almonds.

Let's look at another pattern:

adjective + past participle.

I still love to smell perfumes and scented lotions.

But if I actually use them on my skin, my happiness would be short-lived. Within a day, I'd probably get a rash.

Short-lived means it doesn't last for long

Short-lived.

adjective + past participle

Talking about people's personalities, we often use these kinds of compound modifiers.

What do we call a person with a good nature?

Good-natured. A good-natured person.

Form a few more of these compound modifiers with me. What do we call a person with a hot temper?

Hot-tempered. How about a person who speaks with a soft voice?

Soft-spoken.

What do we call a person whose mind or view is very narrow?

Narrow-minded. What's the opposite? Someone whose view or mind is open?

Open-minded. What kind of person are you?

I think we can consider these compound modifiers somewhat passive in nature

because we're talking about the personality that they received from nature. Does that make sense?

There's one more pattern we use with past participles: adverb + past participle.

For example, a well-behaved child.

"Well" combines with a lot of different past participles.

Try forming more compound modifiers with me.

What do we call a person who has read a lot and is very knowledgeable?

Well-read.

A diet that has good variety and balances all the different foods that we need is...

a well-balanced diet.

How about a product that is known very well by many?

It's...

a well-known product.

Of course, other adverbs could fit into this pattern. They just might not be as commonly used as "well."

How about a room that has bright light?

A brightly lit room.

Sometimes looking in a dictionary doesn't help me when I want to confirm how a word or phrase is written.

Then I sometimes look at news articles from trusted sources.

Or I look at published books from authors to see how other writers are

using the words and phrases that I want to use.

For example,

"wildly held beliefs"

..."strongly guarded secrets." These don't seem to be hyphenated with consistency.

Let's look at patterns with present participles.

Present participles end with -ing and when we use them as modifiers, they carry an active meaning.

Let's start with this sentence: The lotion smells sweet.

We'll take the verb "smell," add on an -ing: "smelling."

Now, how do those lotion smell?

We'll use the adjective "sweet." We put the adjective and the present participle together:

sweet-smelling. I like sweet smelling lotions.

Common patterns for compound modifiers are noun or adjective + present participle.

Did you see the lesson where I talked about a sad movie called A Dog's Purpose?

I said that some scenes were heart-wrenching,

meaning those scenes wrenched, twisted, or hurt my heart.

"Heart-wrenching" is an example of a compound modifier noun + present participle.

Let's form a few more compound modifiers that follow this pattern.

How about movies that make your spine tingle? Meaning they're filled with excitement, but they're a little scary too.

They tingle your spine.

They're spine-tingling. A spine-tingling movie.

Did you know that prices for refreshments at movie theaters in the U.S. can be shocking? They make your jaw drop.

What kind of prices are we talking about?

Jaw-dropping prices.

If an artistic performance inspires awe, how can we describe it?

An awe-inspiring performance.

Speaking of art, some artwork can blow your mind. It can amaze you. How can we describe this art?

We can talk about mind-blowing works of art.

Do you know anyone who uses sweet words to get what they want? They're good at persuading others?

What kind of people are these?

Sweet-talking. Do you know any sweet-talking people? Are you one of them?

See if you can figure out other patterns to form compound modifiers. Take a look.

Can you make the matches?

We have color + past participle.

number + noun and

noun + adjective

Form other compound modifiers with these new patterns.

For example:

products that are free of fragrances.

Fragrance-free. They're fragrance-free products.

What do we call a presentation that's only five minutes? It's five minutes long, or we can say it's a...

five-minute presentation.

How about a team or an athlete that has won three times? What do we call them?

A three-time winner. Perhaps a three-time champion or, if it's a group of them, than three-time champions.

I have a couple of bonus questions to challenge you before we end.

First, what do we call a woman who is 30 years old?

Change that and make a compound modifier for me.

She's a 30-year-old woman. Note the difference in punctuation.

Here's the second bonus question: Do these two phrases have the same meaning?

I'd argue that they could possibly be different.

The first one could refer to two kinds of toothpaste of two different colors: green toothpaste and white toothpaste.

The second one definitely describes a combination. It's toothpaste that is both green and white.

It may look strange, but we can use hyphens to combine three or more words and create a compound modifier.

What do you think we call an opportunity that comes only once in a person's lifetime?

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Have you ever had one of those?

Let's end here.

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