34 Compound Nouns - Professions

A Compound Noun is a noun formed by two or more existing words which are combined to create a whole new noun. {see Nouns - Compounds, A1 Level}

Gender neutral nouns for Professions an are used to prevent discrimination.

Below you can see the masculine, feminine and politically correct form of words used to describe Professions:

• Businessperson
  • She is a very talented businessperson.
  • He is a very talented businessperson.
• Camera operator
  • She is such an incredible camera operator!
  • He is such an incredible camera operator!
• Flight attendant
  • She works as a flight attendant.
  • He works as a flight attendant.
• Dutch person
  • Anouk is a famous Dutch person.
  • Desiderius Erasmus is a famous Dutch person.
• Firefighter
  • She worked as a firefighter.
  • He worked as a firefighter.
• Homemaker
  • She enjoys being a homemaker.
  • He enjoys being a homemaker.

We have certain masculine or feminine words for Professions but in order to avoid discriminating attitudes we use politically correct words.

We use compound nouns for professions in order to be more politically correct. Instead of using masculine or feminine form of a profession, we can use neutral form in order to avoid discrimination.

For example:
— “Fireman” - “Firefighter” = Because masculine form of Fireman is sexist, we need to use Firefighter which is a neutral term.

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.