Activities: “How to use nouns to describe other nouns in English?”

By: revel arroway, Isabel McKay

Associated Articles

These activities are part of our English Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Activity 1: Name the objects

Look at the pictures below. These are everyday things. Use a noun to describe each object!

Here are some nouns you can use. Use each noun just once:

baseball	cherry	china	chocolate	coffee	flour	measuring	picture
plastic	police	silk	sports	story	water	wool

Rewrite phrases below by using a noun to describe another noun. For example:

a garden for flowers = flower garden

boots for wearing in the rain
a hat that protects you from the sun
→ Culture note: This usually refers to a straw hat with a wide brim, not a hat like a baseball cap.
a theater where you also eat dinner
→ Culture note: A dinner theater will usually have a small stage where they show light, funny, or short plays, while you eat dinner. Often, the plays involve a murder mystery!
a party to celebrate someone’s graduation
the time when you eat breakfast
→ Generally, we do not use an article before nouns with the structure [noun] + time.
a spoon for soup
→ Culture note: At a formal dinner you will receive two spoons: a soup spoon (large) and a dessert spoon (small). Check out this page to learn more about utensils at a formal dinner!
a reporter who writes for a newspaper
a slipper made of glass
→ Culture note: Glass slippers are famously from the story of Cinderella!
a movie about superheroes
→ Always use the singular form of the noun when it becomes a modifier!
a dance at a school
→ Culture note: Most high schools in the USA will have at least two school dances every year: Homecoming (in Fall) and Prom (in Spring). Most schools will actually have two proms, one for 12th grade students (called “Senior Prom”) and one for 11th grade students (called “Junior Prom”).

a dress made out of cotton that is designed to be worn in the sun
→ Culture note: Usually the noun “sundress” is one word and it refers to a specific loose style of dress. Have a look at these examples.
a shop that sells scarves that are made out of silk
→ Always use the singular form of the noun when it becomes a modifier!
the act of washing windows
→ Always use the singular form of the noun when it becomes a modifier!
something that cleans windows
→ Usually “window cleaner” refers to the liquid that is used to clean windows (which is a mass noun) but it could also be a tool that is used to clean windows or a person who cleans windows (which are both count nouns)
someone who trims trees
→ This one could also be a tool for trimming trees.
a factory for making dye for hair

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