USING compound adjectives to give PHYSICAL or METHAPHORICAL DESCRIPTIONS"


(forming adjectives that look very similar to participial adjectives that are formed from verbs ( like: a home-made cake ), but forming the adjectives from nouns, instead)

Subj + have/has* + Noun Phrase ---> Subj. + be + (a) adjective-noun +ed + Noun
The stool has three legs. ---> It is a three-legged stool.
Mary has long hair --> Mary is a long-haired beauty.
The soldiers have brown helmets. --> They are brown-helmeted soldiers.

*only if have is used to indicate a PART of the whole, NOT POSSESSION of something separate:
!! (We CANNOT say:
Mary has two cars. --> Mary is a two-carred housewife. or: Mary has two sons --> Mary is a two-sonned mother.) !!


A. Can you draw pictures of these?:
a. a candy-striped pole




e. a flowered dress



i. a broad-shouldered hero



m. a stoop-shouldered woman



b. a long-legged animal



f. a bow-legged cowboy



j. a masked man



n. a pigeon-toed child



c. a three-headed monster



g. a freckle-faced child



k. a six-sided figure:



o. a long-handled pan:



d. a knock-kneed man



h. high-heeled shoes



l. a left-handed tennis player



p. a 3-fingered glove



B. Can you guess the meanings of these adjectives?:
1. yellow-bellied
2. red-blooded
3. green-eyed
4. wide-eyed
5. baby-faced
6. stone-faced
7. tight-fisted
8. light-footed
9. sure-footed
10. fair-haired
11. even-handed
12. heavy-handed
13. bull-headed
14. pig-headed
15. broken-hearted
16. cold-hearted
17. hard-hearted
18. kind-hearted
19. loose-lipped
20. tight-lipped
21. chicken-livered
22. stiff-necked
23. blue-nosed
24. hard-nosed
25. thin-skinned
26. short-tempered
27. smooth-tongued
28. long-winded


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Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois