Job Discussion Forums

[stevey]

we were doing compound words in my class and i told the kids to find a bunch of them in one passage - they had a bunch of words, but i can only remember one - 'begin."

i know begin isnt a compound word - but "be" and "gin" are words. and it has made another word.

wots the deal?! the internet definition is that compound words are two words stuck together - is begin a compound word? theres a few more that te kids came up with aswell

[Roger]

Try genuine compounds: KIndergarten (alright, it's German, composed of 'Kinder' and 'garten', two nouns stuck together);
a truckload (truck, noun, load, verb turned noun);
waterfall (you know this word);

'begin" is NO genuine compound as 'be' is a prefix (an element you won't find as a separate word anymore), not to be confused with "to be", verb.
The word "together" is similar: "to" and "gather", spelled with an "E" instead of the "A".

[Explorer]

Compound words are a great teaching tool and an effective way for non-native, especially for those who learned English one word at a time, speakers to practice the rhythym of the language.

To guide my learners from a tonal toward a rhythmic sentence, I have them pronounce the first of two compound words louder than the other. Note that compound words may be joined as in the adjective underway, seperated as in the adverb under way, or hyphenated. (There are other techniques, but this thread does not address them.)

The days of the week and sports are good to use because they are easy for the students to relate to -- as opposed to unfamiliar words to which they tend to apply rote memorization and same-sound vocalization.

MONday and FOOTball are prime examples.

It sure beats having your tounge cut for better English .

[Capergirl]

When I teach compound words, I try to stick to very obvious ones that contain words the students are already somewhat familiar with, such as:
bookbag
schoolbus
basketball
sunshine
campground
blackboard .........etc.

I will use material that contains compound words like those above. To try to get ESL students to pick out compound words from a complex passage would be a waste of my (and my students') time, IMO.

By the way, I'm sure it can be debated that "begin" and "Monday" are compound words, but I'll be firmly planted on the side that says they are not.

[Explorer]

Monday is the Moon's Day reduced.

I have a theory about Tuesday that does not fit with what I have researched, so I beg pardon to delay an explanation.

Wednesday is Wodin's Day, Thursday Thor's Day, Friday is Frig's or Freya's Day, Saturaday Saturn's Day and Sunday is obvious.

The days of the week are reduced from compound words and generally misunderstood from lack of mythological perspective.

The stress belongs to the first syllable, lest the gods retort .

[Capergirl]

@Explorer...Thanks for the explanation, but I already know all of that. I maintain that Monday is not a compound word, as "Mon" has no meaning in English by itself. A derivative of a word is not a word. The only day of the week that I can see being a compound word is Sunday.

Feel free to teach any way you like, but I for one will not be teaching my students that Monday and begin are compound words.

[Explorer]

The point is not pedantic as in whether MONday is a reduced compound word or not, but of how to help improve the pronunciation of non-native speakers with practice of using stress both to add rhythym and alter meaning through nuances of voice.

In my experience, it works well. The vocal exercises of saying MONday,TUESday, etc., along with familiar English compound words tends to change their English speaking from word-at-a-time toward more natural-sounding sentence communication.

[Bookworm]

Stevey: The 'gin' in 'begin' is, at least in my dialect, pronounced radically differently than the alcoholic 'gin' which I presume you are referring to. The former is a a plosive velar stop (pulmonic) consonant, whereas the latter is a fricative postalveolar; indeed, the only 'connection' between the two is their orthographic representations, which is merely a convention.

Capergirl: The derivative of a 'word' can be a 'word' can be a 'word' (scare quotes used as I am not sure what you mean by the word 'word' (though I presume you actually mean a lemma or, perhaps more likely, a morpheme?). Have you heard of derivational morphology? This is where one morpheme is derived from another via a productive procedure and where the result is of a different class to that of the original:

to sense (V), sense (N), sensitive (ADJ), sensitivity (N).

[bluey]

Chrissakes, Bertrand. It's halloween (compound word, anyone?). Is this the best costume you could find?