One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a tap is called: ‘water-dragon-head’ (‘shwei-long-to’). Well, there’s a bit of imagination used there, but I do understand the logic. A tap looks a bit look a dragon’s head. [See picture above]. Put these three nouns together, and it becomes a big noun. However, in English, it’s just called a ‘tap’ (although the Americans may use the word ‘faucet’).

However, English also has many compound nouns, so let’s practise some of them. Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .