Compound adjectives with participles I and II as their second components

—   Hello, boys and girls! My name is James Wilson.

—   And my name is Martin Green. We are glad to welcome you on our lesson!

—   James, do you know what we are going to talk about today?

—   No, Martin, I don’t!

—   In this case, listen to the story about one girl whose name was Isabella. Then you will find out the theme of our lesson.

Isabella was such a good-looking girl. She was long-haired, and her best friend Miranda really liked her unusual hair style. One day when Isabella was working at the store, a middle-aged man suddenly walked up to her. He said that he is a well-known producer. The man also said that he is looking for a main character for his new movie “Gorgeous woman”. It was Isabella’s long-lasting dream to become an actress, so she agreed without even thinking. They made a thought-provoking movie about kind-hearted and well-educated woman. Now Isabella is a widely-recognized actress. Miranda is so proud of her friend.

—   Martin, I think I know what we are going to talk about today! We will talk about adjectives.

—   James, you’re almost right!

In the lesson today we will:

·        talk about compound adjectives with participles I and II as their second components;

And

·        learn how to form these adjectives.

Before we start talking about compound adjectives, first let’s revise what an adjective is.

Adjective is a describing word, which we use to give more information about different objects.

Adjectives can describe:

·        The size of the objects, for example:

This is a huge table.

·        The shape, for example:

This is a round mirror.

·        The age, for example:

This is an old closet.

·        The colour, for example:

This is a green dress.

·        The origin, for example:

This is a Spanish guitar.

·        The material, for example:

This is a wooden bed.

·        The opinion about the object, for example:

This is a nice building.

Now, James, tell me, do you know what a compound adjective is?

No, Martin, I don’t.

Ok, let’s find out then!

A compound adjective is a describing word, which consists of two or more adjectives. We form it by joining these words together to describe the same noun. These words need to be hyphenated. This will help to avoid confusion or ambiguity.

Now let’s look at the following two example and compare them.

The first example:

Ryan saw a man-eating bear.

(Here we are describing the bear. We say that this is the type of the bear that eats different people.)

And the second example:

Ryan saw a man eating bear.

(We didn’t put the hyphen in this sentence, that’s why it seems like Ryan is eating the bear.)

—   Martin, as far as I understood, we need to be very attentive and put the hyphen where it’s necessary. It’s important, because the meaning of the sentence depends on it.

—   Yes, James, you’re right! Now you must know that we have different types of compound adjectives. Today we will look closely at compound adjectives with participles I and II as their second components. Let’s start with participle I.

There are three different ways to form compound adjectives with participle I as their second components.

1

We can join an adjective with the participle I. The last one is formed by adding the -ing suffix to the main verb.

For instance: good-looking, long-lasting, easy-going, odd-sounding etc.

We can see that we added the following adjectives good, long, easy, odd to the first participle.

2

We can join a noun with the participle I.

For instance: mouth-watering, time-saving, heart-breaking, record-breaking etc.

Here we added the following nouns mouth, time, heart, record to the first participle.

3

We can join an adverb with the participle I.

For instance: far-reaching, fast-moving, slowly-developing, well-meaning etc.

We added the following adverbs far, fast, slowly, well to the first participle.

—   Now, James, we will look closely at some examples of compound adjectives with participle I as their second components.

—   I would love to, Martin! It’s very interesting.

1. Good-looking.

We say so about the person who is physically attractive. The synonyms of the adjective are beautiful, pretty, handsome, lovely, nice.

For example:

—   Hi, Jacob. I saw you walking with your girlfriend yesterday. She is so good-looking.

—   Hi, Lucas. Thank you for your compliment to Amanda. She is also a very smart and kind girl. That’s why I love her.

2. Mouth-watering.

We say like that about something that smells, looks or sounds good. It makes you want to eat it so badly.

For example:

Hey, Billy! Come to my place as soon as possible. My mom is about to finish cooking her mouth-watering cake. It includes sour-cream with lots of sugar. The cake smells so good. I can’t wait to eat it.

3. Long-lasting.

We can use this adjective to describe something that’s existing for a long time.

For example:

It was Edward’s long-lasting dream to become a famous musician. He entered the musical school at the age of 6. Then he attended the musical college and graduated it with a gold medal. Now he is the most famous pianist in his country.

4. Fast-moving.

This adjective is used to describe something that develops or changes very rapidly. We can also use it to talk about something that moves at a very high speed.

For example:

The company “Smart business” is so fast-moving. Its employees earned $500 two weeks ago, now they earn $700.

5. Well-meaning.

We can say so about people who have good intentions. They usually want to do something right, but they don’t always achieve their goals.

For example:

—   Hello, Jeremy! Did you talk to Melissa?

—   Hi, Kevin. Yes, I saw her yesterday! She told me that I’m a well-meaning person, but she also asked me to leave her family alone. Melissa said that they will cope with all the problems without my help.

6. Easy-going.

This adjective is used to describe a person who is calm, unworried, relaxed. It’s not easy to upset such person.

For example:

—   Hi, Mark. I heard about your car. How could your wife possibly crash it? You’re probably so mad at her.

—   Oh, come on, Cody. It’s just a car. We will fix it. The most important is that my wife is fine.

—   Mark, you’re such an easy-going person!

Now, James, let’s look closely at compound adjectives with participle II as their second components.

There are also three ways to form compound adjectives with participle II as their second components.

1

We can join an adjective with the participle II. The last one is formed by adding the ending -ed to the base form of the verb.

For instance: old-fashioned, short-haired, long-haired, kind-hearted etc.

We can see that we added the following adjectives old, short, long, kind to the second participle.

2

We can join a noun with the participle II.

For instance: home-made, hand-written, child-wanted, volunteer-built etc.

Here we added the following nouns home, hand, child, volunteer to the second participle.

3

We can also join an adverb with the participle II.

For instance: well-behaved, well-educated, highly-paid, widely-recognized etc.

We added the following adverbs well, highly, widely to the second participle.

—   Martin, let’s look at some examples of compound adjectives with participle II as their second components!

—   Sure, James!

1. Home-made.

We say so about something that was made at home by someone and it wasn’t bought from a shop.

For example:

—   Fred, you look so upset. Is something wrong?

—   Oh, Michael. Tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday, but I couldn’t find a special cake for my sweetie.

—   Fred, don’t worry. I can give you the phone number of my friend Ruby. She makes the most delicious and unusual home-made cakes in our town. You can order something special for your daughter. Ruby will have made the cake by tomorrow morning if you call her right now.

2. Well-educated.

We can say so about a person who has a very good or high level of education. He or she is usually very smart and intelligent.

For example:

Mia is a very intelligent person. She graduated from Oxford University. She reads lots of different books every day. Every month she goes to the theatres and museums. Mia is such a well-educated woman.

3. Old-fashioned.

We say that something is old-fashioned, when it’s not modern and popular anymore. Old-fashioned things are replaced by something new. Such things belong to a certain period of time in the past.

For example:

—   Adam, look at you! What is it? Is that your grandad’s scarf?

—   Eric, come on! I like this scarf. It’s so cool!

—   Adam, never ever wear it again! It’s so old-fashioned.

—   Eric, stop it! I will wear anything I want. I think you should mind your own business.

4. Highly-paid.

A person is highly-paid if he or she earns a lot of money. The synonym of this adjective is well-paid.

For example:

Luis was lucky to find the job of his dreams. It’s a highly-paid job. The man managed to save some money and buy a beautiful house for his family. He also bought a car for his wife and one for himself. Now he has everything he ever wanted. 

5. Widely-recognized.

It means that something or someone is of a good and reliable quality.

For example:

Rebecca is a saleswoman. She is widely-recognized in her native town, because she is so kind and good-natured. The woman always listens to her customer’s problems and never interrupts them. Rebecca smiles at everyone and her smile is so friendly and sincere. Everyone in her town knows and loves her.

6. Well-behaved.

When we say that someone, especially a child, is well-behaved, we mean that the adults accept and approve his behavior. The synonyms of this adjective are obedient and disciplined.  

For example:

—   Diego, how was your son’s first day of kindergarten?

—   Well, Mike’s kindergarten teacher said that my boy is so well-behaved. He is very friendly and doesn’t take other kids’ toys.

—   Martin, it was such an interesting lesson! I really liked it.

—   I’m glad to hear that, James. Now you know more adjectives and you can use them in your speech. As we know the adjectives make it more beautiful and expressive. I hope our friends also liked the lesson.

—   That’s all for today! See you soon.