STUDY AND THINKING SKILLS SUPPLEMENTAL READING

relationship that was severed into pieces in an

upward direction.

MORE WORDS FORMATION

The word formation processes of compounding,
clipping, and blending are important concepts when
creating words. Also included for download are
vocabulary lists of common English compounds,
clipped words, and blends.
Compounding
Compounding is the word formation process in
which two or more lexemes combine into
a single new word. Compound words may be
written as one word or as two words joined with a
hyphen. For example:
noun-noun compound: note + book
notebook
adjective-noun compound: blue +
berry blueberry
verb-noun compound: work + room
workroom
noun-verb compound: breast + feed
breastfeed
verb-verb compound: stir + fry
stir-fry
adjective-verb compound: high +
light highlight
verb-preposition compound: break +
up breakup
preposition-verb compound: out +
run outrun
adjective-adjective compound: bitter
+ sweet bittersweet
preposition-preposition compound:
in + to into
Compounds may be compositional, meaning that
the meaning of the new word is determined by
combining the meanings of the parts, or
noncompositional, meaning that the meaning of the
new word cannot be determined by combining the
meanings of the parts. For example, a blueberry is
a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a
SOURCE: www.brighthubeducation.com

Compound nouns should not be confused

with nouns modified by adjectives, verbs,
and other nouns. For example, the
adjective black of the noun phrase black
bird is different from the adjective black of
the
compound
noun blackbird in
that black of black bird functions as a noun
phrase
modifier
while
the black of blackbird is an inseparable part
of the noun: a black bird also refers to any
bird that is black in color while a blackbird is
a specific type of bird.
Clipping

Clipping is the word formation process in which a

word is reduced or shortened without changing the
meaning of the word. Clipping differs from backformation in that the new word retains the
meaning of the original word. For example:
advertisement ad
alligator gator
examination exam
gasoline gas
gymnasium gym
influenza flu
laboratory lab
mathematics math
memorandum memo
photograph photo
public house pub
raccoon coon
reputation rep
situation comedy sitcom
telephone phone
The four types of clipping are back clipping, foreclipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping.
Back clipping is removing the end of a word as
in gas from gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing the
beginning of a word as in gator fromalligator.
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STUDY AND THINKING SKILLS SUPPLEMENTAL READING

Middle clipping is retaining only the middle of a
word as in flu from influenza. Complex clipping is
removing multiple parts from multiple words as
in sitcom from situation comedy.

Blending
Blending is the word formation process in which
parts of two or more words combine to create a
new word whose meaning is often a combination of
the original words. For example:
advertisement + entertainment
advertainment
biographical + picture biopic
breakfast + lunch brunch
chuckle + snort chortle
cybernetic + organism cyborg
guess + estimate guesstimate
hazardous + material hazmat
motor + hotel motel
prim + sissy prissy
simultaneous
+ broadcast

simulcast
smoke + fog smog
Spanish + English Spanglish
spoon + fork spork
telephone + marathon telethon
web + seminar webinar
Blended

words

are

also

referred

to

as

portmanteaus (French word for suitcase).

SOURCE URL:
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/esl-lessonplans/59679-forming-new-words-compoundsclipping-and-blends/

SOURCE: www.brighthubeducation.com

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