Focus on pronouncing stress patterns in compound nouns.

In compounds formed from two nouns, the stress is generally on the first element.

Activities

Task 1
Combine words from the two lists to answer the questions. The stress should be on the first element of each compound.

Example: What do you call a place or building where you can park your car?
> A car park.

Questions

  1. What do you call a small portable cassette player?
  2. What do you call a safety belt that you wear in a car?
  3. What do you call an area where a building is under construction?
  4. What do you call a large self-service shop?
  5. What do you call a tower or building with a light to guide ships?
  6. What do you call the distance that light travels in one year?
  7. What do you call a year with 366 days?
  8. What do you call a kind of plant that grows in the sea?
  9. What do you call one kind of device for receiving TV broadcasts?
  10. What do you call a two-wheeled vehicle with a powerful engine?
  11. What do you call a small container to put rubbish in?
  12. What do you call a small vehicle for transporting a very young child?
  13. What do you call a machine for making copies of documents?
  14. What do you call a pen that you have to fill with ink?
  15. What do you call a kind of rough paper for smoothing wood?
List 1 List 2
fountain house
light man
seat copier
motor market
sand bin
photo bike
walk dish
super paper
litter year
push weed
satellite site
building chair
leap belt
sea pen

Key
1. a walkman
2. a seatbelt
3. a building site
4. a supermarket
5. a lighthouse
6. a light-year
7. a leap year
8. seaweed
9. a satellite dish
10. a motorbike
11. a litter-bin
12. a pushchair
13. a photocopier
14. a fountain pen
15. sandpaper

Task 2
What’s the difference between...

  1. a greenhouse and a green house?
  2. a blackbird and a black bird?
  3. a bullseye and a bull’s eye?
  4. a bluebell and a blue bell?
  5. a swimming instructor and a swimming instructor?

If you don't know, check in a dictionary!