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.
Note, this was originally published in 2012 but alas, the content is just as relevant and even more irritating now, hence the repost with a few minor adjustments … oh, and no, my son is not an Olympic basketball player but is a D1 football player, so there’s that : )
But enough about me, let’s get on with what’s been driving me crazy for more than a decade, or at least one of the things … insert drumroll … Hyphens. Or the overuse of said hyphens. The English language used to use hyphens a lot but there has been an exhausting push to get rid of the unnecessary punctuation mark. Still, according to the late, great 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 … just remember, if it makes sense without it, why add it???
Oh, and because I am curious … am I the only one who tries to write a lot as one word (alot)?? L-OL : ) Someone throw me a bone here.
Cover image from Pexels’ free library.
DISCLAIMER: These are my personal experiences and opinions. Nothing here is medical, nutritional, or therapeutic advice. Also, 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
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