To hyphen or not??
Originally published between 2011 and 2014, this post has been updated but preserves its original publish date as content is migrated from the archives of The Flavored Word.
This was hard. After spending the last few hours watching my little Olympic hopeful dribble and run and pivot and shoot, I am home and I am beat.
But enough about me, let’s get on with today’s lesson, which happens to be a tidbit about hyphens. The English language used to use hyphens a lot but there is a push to get rid of the unnecessary punctuation mark. Still, according to Jane Straus, there are some definite rules one should remember when deciding to hyphenate. I will give you three.
1. Use a hyphen for any word beginning with the prefix ex like ex-wife and ex-ample. (Just kidding! Do not use a hyphen for example but do for ex-wife.)
2. Hyphenate all words beginning with self ex-cept (again, that was a joke) EXCEPT selfish and selfless.
3. Hyphenate prefixes when they precede proper nouns like un-American or non-English speaker.
The harder part about hyphens is the compound word usage, but, alas it is late … so you are on your own for that lesson …
Oh, and because I am curious … am I the only one who tries to write a lot as one word (alot)?? L-OL : )
Cover image from Pexels’ free library.
DISCLAIMER: I’m a writer and an editor. And I try my best to make sure every post is articulate and free from errors. However, being that I edit my own work—and it’s next to impossible to properly edit your own work—I admit, occasionally there may be an error or two I miss. But doing so doesn’t make me an idiot so don’t be mean. Just smile, pat yourself on the back for finding an error and be glad you’re not the only one who makes mistakes sometimes … xoxox
Leave a Reply