Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller. I chose my words carefully because the rules about hyphens can. A dash is longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Mignot fogarty, better known as grammar girl provides the public with an accessible reference on punctuation. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Hyphens between words quiz 1 the blue book of grammar and. Stacked modifiers grammar girl quick and dirty tips. For each of the following, choose the correct sentence. 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. Compound verbs are either hyphenated or appear as one word. An equally slippery subject is whether to hyphenate well when it helps describe a noun. If you dont know what compound modifier is 10 simple rules for using hyphen with sample sentences read more. Each entry starts with a simple explanation and basic examples before moving to real.
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. Lets examine some common hyphenation rules and examples to illustrate them. 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. Why hyphens or lack of them mean your true blue friend is a smurf and. Fogarty not only offers the grammar rules, but clear and sticky examples that should help. Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a. Marcias friend mark notes that hyphens seem to be disappearing. When writing the term with a hyphen in a headline, the chicago manual of styles rule 8. It can be easy to overlook the english section during your act prep.
Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side. In this sequel to the last tip, well zero in on some specific guidelines for capitalizing hyphenated words in titles and. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things. It is usually used with a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word its modifying. In the eleventh edition, we have included rule 2 of hyphens with prefixes and suffixes. A common mistake is referring to a hyphen as a dash, or using a hyphen within a sentence when there should be a dash. See more ideas about teaching, compound words and grammar and punctuation. This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective.
The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. Hyphens punctuation rules the blue book of grammar and. Jan 01, 2008 to the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. 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. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Hyphens are also used to separate the parts of a long word at the end of a written or printed line. To hyphenate or not to hyphenate, that is the question. Do not use a hyphen if the two words have separate meanings and do not stand as a single adjective. For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. If the adjectives come after the noun, then they dont need a hyphen. The rules for the use of hyphens in danish are complex, and sometimes they are optional rather than necessary.
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. Generally, hyphens are used to join two words or parts of words together. Needless to say, people seem to be using hyphens less. 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.
Most often, you will hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea. Nov 5, 2019 mastering english punctuation is difficult even for native english speakers. Capitalization in titles and headings hyphenated words. A hyphen is a punctuation mark thats used to join words or parts of words. 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. Daily grammar lesson 421 mechanics punctuation hyphens. The lady who lived in the house at the corner of my street was known to have twentythree cats. 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. Hyphens are a regular source of confusion among grammar girl listeners. A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. If a word is a verb, adjective or adverb, it probably needs a hyphen. Though hyphens have several uses, were going to focus on how to use hyphens with compound adjectives. Note that this is only available using the hyphen on the numeric keypad not the main keyboard. Presubmission basic grammar and style primer for childrens.
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. How to use hyphens grammar girl quick and dirty tips. The rules about the usage of hyphens are very complicated. 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. 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. Although there are a few hardandfast rules for using hyphens, there are just too many exceptions to call everything relating to hyphens a rule. The four easy rules to help determine where to place hyphens. Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word its modifying. The proper use of good and well in writing is a common grammatical topic. Both the ap stylebook and the buzzfeed style guide already recommend spelling email without the hyphen. This board helps advanced english learners study english punctuation rules. 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. Mignon fogarty, aka, the grammar girl, does point out that hyphens tend to.
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. Sarcasm is a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound. As usual with grammar rules, once you hear the answer and understand the principle, hyphenating compounds turns out to be pretty easy. To see where to divide words look in a good dictionary. The best punctuation book, period by june casagrande. A perfectly nice, wellintentioned rant about hyphens the atlantic. Hyphens with common prefixes grammar and punctuation. The hyphen english punctuation learn english grammar. This userfriendly resource includes simple explanations of grammar, punctuation, and usage. Using hyphens in compound nouns a single noun made up of two or more words is called a compound noun e. To the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. 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. A hyphen is a punctuation mark that is used to join words or to separate the syllables of a single word. The one difference between the two that is obvious right away is that a dash is about twice as long as a hyphen.
Although there are a few hardandfast rules for using hyphens, there are. But there is also a difference in how each functions as punctuation. Hyphens with the prefix re grammar and punctuation. Its not interchangeable with other types of dashes. 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. Most hyphenation in compound adjectives occurs when the compound adjective comes before. As a general rule, you may want to consider three modifiers before a noun or verb as the maximum limit. 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. The use of hyphens not to be confused with dashes is a contentious topic. We have lots of examples that will help you finally understand hyphen rules. 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. 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. Irony is the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. If youre not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary.
Word on a mac or a pc will automatically render an em dash when two hyphens are typed, unspaced, between words. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon. Nov 03, 2010 hyphens are also used to separate the parts of a long word at the end of a written or printed line. Learn when hyphens should be used between words, within words, and in numbers. The big question with a compound noun is whether to leave it as two words e. After all, if you live in an anglophone country, youve probably had english lessons for. Hyphens clearly mark all the modifiers as going together to describe the one noun. If you do not find the verb in the dictionary, hyphenate it. Do not hyphenate when simple stating the age of something or someone. Regarding the hyphen, obscure words like subepic may be hyphenated or not as the writer sees fit. A study of more than 10,000 words, including hyphens, has found that four basic rules will work 75 per cent of the time. The hyphen rules and examples really learn english. Although they are each a simple horizontal line, hyphens and the various dashes have their own appearances and specific uses.
Dec 14, 2012 if the adjectives come after the noun, then they dont need a hyphen. Roma many foreign names are assimilated into english and do not need translation. Grammar girl provides short, useful tips on grammar that are easy to remember and easy to put into practice. More specifically, time for some act english punctuation, grammar, and usage questions. 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.
Use a hyphen when spelling out numbers between 21 and 99. Family projects business global events books fiction newsletters. Also, you always want to use figures when discussing age. Mar 16, 2010 regarding the hyphen, obscure words like subepic may be hyphenated or not as the writer sees fit. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing quick. 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. Hyphenate when expressing ages as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun. 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. The blue book of grammar and punctuation is a concise, entertaining workbook and guide to english grammar, punctuation, and usage.
676 1056 634 959 1274 1105 1104 947 315 210 336 1530 1399 1450 159 42 1291 1210 230 1420 97 188 659 1308 1293 413 799 286 863 120 471 1411 4 1522 1521 92 696 954 608 327 1139 110 1067