Egypt Secondary 3 English (Connect), Week 9: Compound adjectives and adjectives ending in -ed or -ing

Unit 4: a seashore visit, sea animals and describing words

Week 9 · Unit 4 Marine Life (A): the opener, an article about coral reefs (reference only), idioms, words for fragile places, a talk about tourism by the sea, a podcast about whales (our own read-aloud text), a listening about the underwater world, compound adjectives and -ed / -ing adjectives, a restaurant role-play · 3 lessons

Compound adjectives and adjectives ending in -ed or -ing

English Secondary 3 Term 1, Unit 4 Lesson 3: pp. 60–62

GoalUse compound adjectives with the right hyphens, choose between -ed and -ing adjectives, and make a polite complaint.

New words

compound adjective · an adjective made of two or more words joined by hyphenshyphen · the short line (-) between joined wordsparticiple · a verb form ending in -ed or -ing that can work as an adjectivefeeling · what a person feels insidecause · the thing that makes something happencomplaint · a polite statement that something is wrong

Explanation

A compound adjective is two or more words joined by hyphens before a noun. Number + singular noun: a ten-hour trip (hour, never hours). Adjective + noun with -ed: open-minded. Noun + participle: time-saving. Noun + adjective: world-famous. Adjective + participle: well-behaved. After the noun we usually write the words apart: The trip was ten hours long. After an adverb ending in -ly we write no hyphen: a highly respected guide. But slow is an adjective, so: a slow-moving crab. Adjectives in -ed and -ing: -ed tells how a person feels (bored, tired), and -ing tells what causes the feeling (boring, tiring). The lesson was boring, so I was bored. Polite complaint: Excuse me, the soup is a little cold. Could you warm it, please? Polite reply: I am sorry about that. I will bring a hot bowl. The book’s tasks on pages 60 to 62 are named by page; our examples are new.

Pattern	Compound adjective	Sentence
number + singular noun	a ten-hour trip	We took a ten-hour trip.
noun + participle	time-saving	This is a time-saving tool.
noun + adjective	world-famous	She is a world-famous chef.
-ed / -ing	bored / boring	The film was boring, so I was bored.

Worked examples

Number + noun: “The walk took two hours.” → a two-hour walk. The noun stays singular before the second noun.

After the noun: “The walk was two hours long.” No hyphen is needed, and hours is plural.

-ed or -ing: “The wait was tiring, so we were tired.” Tiring is the cause; tired is the feeling. With a -ly adverb we write a highly respected guide, but a slow-moving crab.

Polite complaint at the school canteen: “Excuse me, the rice is a little cold. Could you warm it, please?” Reply: “I am sorry about that. I will bring a hot plate.”

Class activity

Role-play in pairs: one student is a customer at the school canteen and the other is the server. Make a polite complaint with two adjectives (one -ed, one -ing) and give a polite reply. Then swap roles.

Practice

Rewrite with a compound adjective: “The shell is a hundred years old.” A ___ shell.

Choose: The long queue was very ___. (tired / tiring)

Choose: After the long walk we were all ___. (tired / tiring)

Correct the mistake: “It was a ten-hours trip.”

Correct the mistake: “She is a highly-respected guide.”