The proper use of good and well in writing is a common grammatical topic. Word on a mac or a pc will automatically render an em dash when two hyphens are typed, unspaced, between words. Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea. The eleventh edition of the blue book of grammar and punctuation february 2014 recognizes that there is not always agreement among the authoritative references on many of the rules of grammar and punctuation.
Although there are a few hardandfast rules for using hyphens, there are just too many exceptions to call everything relating to hyphens a rule. Although many publishing houses have their own inhouse style or grammar guides stipulating how to treat serial commas or ellipses or em dashes, the following primer will guarantee you a manuscript thats clean enough to impress any nitpicking editor even if she later changes it to reflect the publishing houses style choices. The best punctuation book, period by june casagrande. Presubmission basic grammar and style primer for childrens. A common mistake is referring to a hyphen as a dash, or using a hyphen within a sentence when there should be a dash. Hyphens with common prefixes grammar and punctuation. To hyphenate or not to hyphenate, that is the question. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the letter n and the em dash as the length of the letter m. I chose my words carefully because the rules about hyphens can. Also, you always want to use figures when discussing age. The rules for the use of hyphens in danish are complex, and sometimes they are optional rather than necessary. The blue book of grammar and punctuation is a concise, entertaining workbook and guide to english grammar, punctuation, and usage. Grammar tip suspended hyphen november 9, 2011 0 comments in grammar by jane watson when you are writing a sentence that contains hyphenated adjectives with the same last word, delete all the repeated words except for the last one.
The use of hyphens not to be confused with dashes is a contentious topic. Mignon fogarty, author of grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing invaluable reference work for professional proofreaders, editors, and writers because it is the only book that presents chicago, ap, apa, and mla conventions side by side. After all, if you live in an anglophone country, youve probably had english lessons for. You open your book when the proctor prompts you, flip to that first page, anduhoh. Use a hyphen in compounds made up of two or more words used as an adjective adjectives modify or affect the meaning of nouns and pronouns and tell us which, whose, what kind, and how many about the nouns or pronouns they modify. The four easy rules to help determine where to place hyphens. Marcias friend mark notes that hyphens seem to be disappearing.
A handy rule, whether writing about years, months, or any other period of time, is to use hyphens unless the period of time years, months, weeks, days is written in plural form. So carmaker, chipmaker, peacemaker, marketmaker, troublemaker, but candlestickmaker, holidaymaker, tiramisumaker, antimacassarmaker. Note that this is only available using the hyphen on the numeric keypad not the main keyboard. To the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a. Buy our book smashing grammar 2019 written by the founder of grammar monster, smashing grammar includes a glossary of grammar essentials from apostrophes to zeugma and a chapter on easily confused words from affecteffect to whetherif. This board helps advanced english learners study english punctuation rules.
Its not interchangeable with other types of dashes. To see where to divide words look in a good dictionary. In terms of the rules we looked at in this lesson, a hyphen is generally used between two adjectives that together form a compound adjective that acts as a single modifier. Needless to say, people seem to be using hyphens less. Why hyphens or lack of them mean your true blue friend is a smurf and. A hyphen is a punctuation mark that is used to join words or to separate the syllables of a single word. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing quick. Hyphens are a regular source of confusion among grammar girl listeners. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. The hyphen rules and examples really learn english. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. May 14, 2014 if you were to say, the child is two years old, you would not have to use a hyphen, because in that case, two years old comes after the noun. Do not hyphenate when simple stating the age of something or someone. Hyphens with the prefix re grammar and punctuation.
As a general rule, you may want to consider three modifiers before a noun or verb as the maximum limit. More specifically, time for some act english punctuation, grammar, and usage questions. It is usually used with a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word its modifying. A dash is longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Mar 16, 2010 regarding the hyphen, obscure words like subepic may be hyphenated or not as the writer sees fit. How to use hyphens grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Since i thought the hyphen section of marcia riefer johnstons new book, word up. But there is also a difference in how each functions as punctuation.
If youre not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary. The one difference between the two that is obvious right away is that a dash is about twice as long as a hyphen. Do not use a hyphen if the two words have separate meanings and do not stand as a single adjective. This userfriendly resource includes simple explanations of grammar, punctuation, and usage. Mignot fogarty, better known as grammar girl provides the public with an accessible reference on punctuation.
Mignon fogarty, aka, the grammar girl, does point out that hyphens tend to. Hyphenate when expressing ages as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun. This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective. Most hyphenation in compound adjectives occurs when the compound adjective comes before. The ap stylebook, the buzzfeed style guide, the economist style guide, and the chicago manual of style all recommend hyphenating e book, as well as most other e words such as ereader and ecommerce its conceivable that over time, e book may lose its hyphen. Hyphens clearly mark all the modifiers as going together to describe the one noun. Both the ap stylebook and the buzzfeed style guide already recommend spelling email without the hyphen. Though hyphens have several uses, were going to focus on how to use hyphens with compound adjectives. Generally, hyphens are used to join two words or parts of words together. Although there are a few hardandfast rules for using hyphens, there are. For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins.
In grammar girls quick and dirty tips to clean up your writing, mignon fogarty, the woman behind the popular grammar girl podcast, tackles some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. Nov 03, 2010 hyphens are also used to separate the parts of a long word at the end of a written or printed line. When writing the term with a hyphen in a headline, the chicago manual of styles rule 8. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. For each of the following, choose the correct sentence. Sarcasm is a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound. Using hyphens in compound nouns a single noun made up of two or more words is called a compound noun e. Learn when hyphens should be used between words, within words, and in numbers. Hyphens punctuation rules the blue book of grammar and. When one or more hyphen ated adjectives has a common basic element and this element is shown only with the last term, insert a suspending hyphen after each of the incomplete adjectives to indicate a relationship with the last term. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon. Nov 5, 2019 mastering english punctuation is difficult even for native english speakers. When one or more hyphenated adjectives has a common basic element and this element is shown only with the last term, insert a suspending hyphen after each of the incomplete adjectives to indicate a relationship with the last term. If a word is a verb, adjective or adverb, it probably needs a hyphen.
As usual with grammar rules, once you hear the answer and understand the principle, hyphenating compounds turns out to be pretty easy. The rules about the usage of hyphens are very complicated. Family projects business global events books fiction newsletters. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girls quick and dirty tips. A hyphen is a punctuation mark thats used to join words or parts of words. Grammar girl provides short, useful tips on grammar that are easy to remember and easy to put into practice. Dec 14, 2012 if the adjectives come after the noun, then they dont need a hyphen. If you were to say, the child is two years old, you would not have to use a hyphen, because in that case, two years old comes after the noun. The big question with a compound noun is whether to leave it as two words e. In this sequel to the last tip, well zero in on some specific guidelines for capitalizing hyphenated words in titles and. Fogarty not only offers the grammar rules, but clear and sticky examples that should help. Lets examine some common hyphenation rules and examples to illustrate them.
An equally slippery subject is whether to hyphenate well when it helps describe a noun. If the adjectives come after the noun, then they dont need a hyphen. Its the name grammarians give to two or more words stuck together by a hyphen. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things.
A study of more than 10,000 words, including hyphens, has found that four basic rules will work 75 per cent of the time. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. The shortest and most common is the hyphen, which is used for clarifying open compounds such as fourarmed villains, as opposed to four armed villains, for separating number groups in phone and social security numbers, and for connecting. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller. Roma many foreign names are assimilated into english and do not need translation. A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. Regarding the hyphen, obscure words like subepic may be hyphenated or not as the writer sees fit. In the eleventh edition, we have included rule 2 of hyphens with prefixes and suffixes. Her tips are available in audio format as a podcast, in text format on her blog, and as a fulllength, comprehensive book that is informative and fun to read. We have lots of examples that will help you finally understand hyphen rules. Compound verbs are either hyphenated or appear as one word. Daily grammar lesson 421 mechanics punctuation hyphens. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side. She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards.
Stacked modifiers grammar girl quick and dirty tips. See more ideas about teaching, compound words and grammar and punctuation. If you dont know what compound modifier is 10 simple rules for using hyphen with sample sentences read more. Jan 01, 2008 to the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday.
Irony is the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. The lady who lived in the house at the corner of my street was known to have twentythree cats. A perfectly nice, wellintentioned rant about hyphens the atlantic. Hyphens between words quiz 1 the blue book of grammar and. Jul 11, 2018 a study of more than 10,000 words, including hyphens, has found that four basic rules will work 75 per cent of the time. It can be easy to overlook the english section during your act prep. Use a hyphen when spelling out numbers between 21 and 99. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Hyphens are also used to separate the parts of a long word at the end of a written or printed line.
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