BEING ILL-4 (REVIEW)

Good morning. I hope you had a good weekend.

To finish the topic of being ill, I want to concentrate on the noun ache and how it combines with other nouns to talk about pain:

-To have an earache
-To have a toothache
-To have a stomach-ache
-To have a headache

Ache means "dolor" and is pronounced "eik." It combines with certain parts of the body to create a separate noun, as in the above expressions.

Example 1
I lifted those heavy boxes and now my back hurts. I have a backache.

Example 2
My tooth hurts because I have a cavity ('caries'). I have a toothache.

Example 3
My stomach hurts because I have the flu ('gripe'). I have a stomach-ache.

Example 4
My ear hurts because I have an ear infection. I have an earache.

Example 5
My head hurts. It's the worst headache I have had in a long time.

Ache cannot combine with every part of the body, only the ones covered above. You can say "my finger hurts" or "I hurt my finger" but you CANNOT say that you have a **fingerache**.

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Have a good day and a great week!