Primary School English Quiz - Nouns 05 - Compound Nouns (Questions)

The different parts of speech are fundamental to learning English and nouns are a very important part. Nouns help you to identify your friends or pets. Nouns help you to convey an idea to someone or express your feelings for someone. Nouns are classified into different types such as common nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns and compound nouns.

FIRE is a single noun and so is WOOD. Now, combining these two words we get FIREWOOD, which becomes a compound noun. Have you not done a CARTWHEEL to impress your friends? How do you think the word CARTWHEEL was formed? Yes! The word is a compound noun formed from two single nouns, CART and WHEEL. In this quiz you will learn to form compound nouns from single nouns.

Consider the compound noun TEAHOUSE formed from TEA and HOUSE. While there are no set rules for forming compound nouns, a rule of thumb is that the second noun, HOUSE, identifies the object or person in question and the first noun, TEA, tells us what kind of object or person it is. The compound noun so formed should make sense. Thus, TEAHOUSE is the compound noun we are looking for. A teahouse is a place where tea and light refreshments are served popularised in China and Japan.

Compound nouns formed from two single nouns usually have some relationship with the two nouns. For instance, the teahouse itself is a good example as tea is served in a place with a homely atmosphere. Remember compound nouns are simply formed by placing the two nouns side by side and in a particular order. In the teahouse example the reverse placing, that is, HOUSETEA, does not form a compound noun. Take the quiz that follows and learn more about compound nouns and their formation from other nouns.