Spelling of Compound Nouns

The spelling of  English compound nouns varies. They are sometimes one word and sometimes two. There are no rules to determine if they are one word or two.

Compound words written as one word often consists of two syllables. This is the case with words such as bookstore, textbook and football. However, words such as basketball, newspaper and sunflower have three syllables.

The word bookstore is one word, but shoe store is two. Though both compound nouns end with store, one is monosyllabic and one is not. The compound nouns hotcake and hot dog both begin with hot and have two syllables. However, one is one word and the other is two.

The compound noun nightclub is one word. However, health club is two. Though they both end with the word club, one is written as a single word and the other as two.

The compound noun grapefruit is one word, but passion fruit is two. The compound chocolate cake is two words, but cheesecake is only one. Both passion fruit and chocolate cake have three syllables. However, waterfall and rainfall are both single words even though waterfall has three syllables.

English has many compound nouns.The spelling of compound nouns varies. Unlike in languages such as German which write all compound nouns as one word, English does not. English compound nouns are sometimes written as one word and sometimes as two.

Names of European Countries in Finnish

The names of many European countries in Finnish may not be so easy to recognize. They are often quite different from their names in other languages. Here is a list of twelve European countries with their names in Finnish:

Kreikka (Greece)

Liettua (Lithuania)

Norja (Norway)

Puola (Poland)

Ranska (France)

Ruotsi (Sweden)

Saksa (Germany)

Suomi (Finland)

Sveitsi (Switzerland)

Tanska (Denmark)

Unkari (Hungary)

Venäjä (Russia)

The word for France begins with R because F is rare in Finnish, and the word for Greece begins with K because G is rare. The name for Switzerland is similar to the German word Schweiz and the name for Norway is similar to the Norwegian word Norge. Though the word for Finland is very different from that of other languages, in Estonian it is Soome.

Finnish is not an Indo-European language. It is a Uralic language and differs significantly from Indo-European languages. The names of European countries in Finnish are often quite different from the names in Indo-European languages.

Three Types of Propaganda

Propaganda can be classified into three types. These types are based on the transparency the of source and the intent of the message. The three types are black, grey and white.

Black propaganda is the most deceptive type. The source is hidden or attributed to false sources, and the message is deliberately false. The goal of black propaganda is to manipulate public opinion.

Grey propaganda has ambiguous sources and is a combination of true and false statements. The information is often distorted. As a result, it is difficult for the audience to determine the true intent of the message.

White propaganda is transparent and open. The source of the message is clearly identified, and the information is honest and accurate. However, it is biased towards the goals of the propagandist.  The goal is to present information in a manner that makes it likely to be accepted and believed.

Propaganda refers to the use of information to present a particular cause or view. It can be categorized into three types. They are black, grey and white.

Intervocalic s of Italian

In Italian the s is voiced between vowels. This is also the case in French and Portuguese. However, in southern Italian dialects, the intervocalic s is voiceless.

The following Italian words have an intervocalic s and are pronounced /z/ in northern and central Italy:

casa (house)

chiesa (church)

cosa (thing)

famoso (famous)

fase (phase)

mese (month)

naso (nose)

paese (country)

rosa (rose)

sposa (wife)

In southern Italy, the intervocalic s is voiceless. It is thus pronounced /s/. This is the same pronunciation that is used in Spanish.

One feature that distinguishes the Italian of northern and central Italy from southern Italy is the intervocalic s. It is voiced in the northern and central varieties, but it is not in the southern. The voiced pronunciation is considered standard.