BEING ILL-4

Good morning / afternoon / evening everyone. Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. I hope you're having a great day!

To finish the topic about vocabulary related to 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 "a continuous dull pain in a part of one's body." It 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**.

Can you use one of more of these ache phrases in your own, original sentences? You can post your sentences on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Twitter) and we will give you feedback about your sentences as soon as possible.

Enjoy the rest of your day (and have a great weekend)!