The hyphen rules and examples really learn english. 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. In the eleventh edition, we have included rule 2 of hyphens with prefixes and suffixes. To the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. The hyphen is also used for word division, which is briefly explained here. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Weve looked at a handful of issues concerning the formatting of print books for those who are selfpublishing first steps in formatting for print and using font styles when formatting for print.
Sarcasm is a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound. So carmaker, chipmaker, peacemaker, marketmaker, troublemaker, but candlestickmaker, holidaymaker, tiramisumaker, antimacassarmaker. Regarding the hyphen, obscure words like subepic may be hyphenated or not as the writer sees fit. The rules about the usage of hyphens are very complicated.
In british english, bookshop is more commonly used. 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. Using hyphens to break lines when reading books you may sometimes notice the hyphen at the end of a line. If you do not find the verb in the dictionary, hyphenate it. Learn when hyphens should be used between words, within words, and in numbers. To see where to divide words look in a good dictionary. The best punctuation book, period by june casagrande. Hyphens with the prefix re grammar and punctuation.
For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word its modifying. 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. Its not interchangeable with other types of dashes. If the adjectives come after the noun, then they dont need a hyphen. 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.
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. Marcias friend mark notes that hyphens seem to be disappearing. Though there are exceptions such as when the first word ends in ly, the general rule of thumb is. Use title case for proper nouns for example, names of people, places or organisations. Family projects business global events books fiction newsletters. In this article were going to address hyphenation at the ends of lines in print books. Compound words are two or more words that are combined to make a new word with a new meaning.
For most writers, the hyphens primary function is the formation of certain compound terms. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon. Of course there are various rules of thumb and heuristics to choose the best place to hyphenate, and in many cases hyphenating a word dramatically reduces readability, but in a strict answer to ops original question, it is acceptable to hyphenate a word at any syllable boundary, and you can find all the syllable boundaries in a dictionary. Irony is the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. Since i thought the hyphen section of marcia riefer johnstons new book, word up. Fogarty not only offers the grammar rules, but clear and sticky examples that should help. Hyphens are a regular source of confusion among grammar girl listeners. As a broad rule, when a compound adjective appears after the noun it modifies, that is, in the predicative position, it will not be hyphenated. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things. A subreddit for questions and discussions about grammar, language, style, conventions, and punctuation.
When writing the term with a hyphen in a headline, the chicago manual of styles rule 8. If youre not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary. Feb 6, 2012 explore realgrammargirls board grammar girl. See more ideas about grammar and punctuation, teaching grammar and teaching writing. Mignot fogarty, better known as grammar girl provides the public with an accessible reference on punctuation. Punctuating with hyphens university of new england.
Daily grammar lesson 421 mechanics punctuation hyphens. Its longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word. 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. The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. When the same two words appear after the noun, a hyphen should not be used. Word on a mac or a pc will automatically render an em dash when two hyphens are typed, unspaced, between words.
Most hyphenation in compound adjectives occurs when the compound adjective comes before the noun, that is, in the attributive position. Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea. In this lesson, well learn what the hyphen punctuation mark is, how the hyphen is different from a dash, and the main rules for using hyphens in your writing. One type of expression we frequently invent is the compound adjective also called the phrasal adjective, which is an adjective consisting of more than one word. Now, if we write that girl is very hard working, we dont need a hyphen, because. The use of hyphens not to be confused with dashes is a contentious topic. Its conceivable that over time, ebook may lose its hyphen. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, nittygritty grammar and more nittygritty grammar. Note that this is only available using the hyphen on the numeric keypad not the main keyboard. A hyphen is a punctuation mark thats used to join words or parts of words.
We have lots of examples that will help you finally understand hyphen rules. The hyphen is there because there wasnt enough space in that line for the entire word. Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a. Incorrect book the list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. Hyphenminus nonbreaking hyphen hyphen bullet the hyphen. See more ideas about grammar, grammar tips, book worth reading. There are no definitive rules for its usage and the various style guides and international norms vary. Hyphens are used in compound adjectives and compound nouns. To hyphenate or not to hyphenate, that is the question.
Book store is incorrectly used instead of the compound word bookstore. There are no simple rights and wrongs for hyphenating words. Spam or selfpromotional the list is spam or selfpromotional. The ap stylebook, the buzzfeed style guide, the economist style guide, and the chicago manual of style all recommend hyphenating ebook, as well as most other e words such as ereader and ecommerce. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. I liked this book because it had lots of good examples. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. The solution was to divide that word between that line and the next one. Hyphens english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. The plural form is bookstores or bookshops the hyphenated versions bookstore and bookshop are also incorrect.
Use a hyphen when spelling out numbers between 21 and 99. 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. Hyphens between words quiz 1 the blue book of grammar. A perfectly nice, wellintentioned rant about hyphens the atlantic. Hyphens with common prefixes grammar and punctuation. Compound verbs are either hyphenated or appear as one word. The quick answer you can use a hyphen or hyphens to link the words in a compound adjective to show it is a single adjective. 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.
Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side. Grammar tip suspended hyphen ontario training network. They come before the noun or pronoun they modify except for the predicate adjective which comes after a linking verb and. Used to link two closely related words or word parts. The hyphen english punctuation learn english grammar. Inappropriate the list including its title or description facilitates illegal activity, or contains hate speech or ad hominem attacks on a fellow goodreads member or author. 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.
If you followed this rule, you would write i am going to use the 5ghz band 5ghz is a compound adjective modifying the noun band. For each of the following, choose the correct sentence. I chose my words carefully because the rules about hyphens can. Hyphens punctuation rules the blue book of grammar and.
The hyphenation feature in word is typically turned off by default, so many of our word docs arent. Mignon fogarty, aka, the grammar girl, does point out that hyphens tend to. They are different from dashes, which are used for parenthesis or to extend a sentence. How to use hyphens grammar girl quick and dirty tips.
As youve probably deduced, without the hyphen, hard modifies working girl. Why hyphens or lack of them mean your true blue friend is a smurf and. Hyphens generally, hyphens are used to join two words or parts of words together while avoiding confusion or. Do not use a hyphen if the two words have separate meanings and do not stand as a single adjective. 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. Compound terms are those that consist of more than one word but represent a single item or idea.
Although there are a few hardandfast rules for using hyphens, there are. Capitalise the principal words only, to distinguish them from common nouns or the generic meaning. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. Use a hyphen because recove r means to cover again. Hyphens english grammar today cambridge dictionary. Our blog hyphens with numbers contains this general rule. This grammar lesson offers an explanation on the correct use of hyphens and gives examples of hyphens used in sentences. Never use a hyphen in place of an en dash or an em dash. I love using hyphens, but i am always afraid of using them incorrectly. 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. A compound adjective is a single adjective that is made up of more than one word. Presubmission basic grammar and style primer for children.