Hyphens between words quiz 1 from the blue book of grammar and punctuation. When they come directly before a noun, theyre known as compound modifiers and usually have a hyphen. Hyphenate year old if the phrase precedes a noun that it is modifying. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language.
Grammar snobs are great big meanies is a laughoutloud funny collection of anecdotes and essays on grammar and punctuation, as well as hilarious critiques of the selfappointed language experts. A more accurate title would probably be grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better grammar. Compound verbs are either hyphenated or appear as one word. Hyphens are a regular source of confusion among grammar girl. The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. Hyphens punctuation rules the blue book of grammar. We believe you are correct in interpreting the meaning of the phrase. Hyphens in compound adjectives the english language is remarkably versatile, for it allows us to make up words and expressions that dont otherwise appear in the dictionary. Authors were treated badly in the recent ebook dispute. Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. Generally, hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea. By strict interpretation of the rules, we would write this as hondacertified used car. There werent a whole lot of actual writing tips, with the exception of a short chapter near the end with advice like avoid cliches like the plague. Lisa rojany buccieri has written and ghostwritten more than 100 childrens and grownups books, both fiction and nonfiction, including board books, picture books, and young adult series.
Book design basics use hyphens for justified type the worlds greatest book posted on august 2, 2014 by dave bricker august 3, 2014 h yphens are an important contributor to elegant, easytoread typography, especially when text is fully justified as is the convention in book typography. This phrase follows the same rules as other compound adjectives, which are two or more words linked with hyphens to show the phrase is part of the same adjective. Feb 6, 2012 explore realgrammargirls board grammar girl. How to use centuries correctly grammarist grammarist is a professional online english grammar dictionary, that provides a variety of grammatical tools, rules and tips in order to improve your grammar and to help you.
Hyphens between words quiz 1 the blue book of grammar. A compound adjective is a single adjective that is made up of more than one word. Without the second hyphen, the sentence is about an old child. The online macquarie dictionary has decisionmaking as a noun and the 17th edition of the chicago manual of style 7. We usually use a hyphen between the two words in a twopart adjective in which the second part ends in ed or ing. Hyphens are the short lines that separate the words in the expressions nonenglish and exhusband when to use hyphens. Hyphens are used in compound adjectives and compound nouns. Pick up almost any traditionally published book, however, and youll find hyphenated words at the ends of lines, meaning that more text has been added to each line, reducing the extra spacing. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon.
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. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller. Decision making or decisionmaking when to use hyphens. Face to face is one of those phrases that sometimes confuse people because of its made up nature, like one on one.
Advertising often takes liberties with proper grammar and punctuation. Incorrectly writing units or incorrectly using hyphens. Hyphen, en dash or em dash english grammar, grammar. Hyphens are a regular source of confusion among grammar girl listeners. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Grammar and punctuation the blue book of grammar and. How to use hyphens grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Note that when hyphens are involved in expressing ages, two hyphens are required.
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. Note how dashes subtly change the tone of the following sentences. A hyphen is also used to separate syllables of a word when there is a line break, though this was more prevalent when type was set by hand rather than electronically. 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.
The example, middlegrade book, would be correct, but many would leave the hyphen out and consider it fine. Hyphen, en dash or em dash a hyphen is used to connect two words that function as a particular concept, or when linked together form a particular modifier. If youre not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing.
Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word its modifying. Plus, grammar girl provides some impressions on how hyphens can. If the answer is yes to these two questions, hyphenate. Hyphen in compound adjective with numbers grammarly. Marcias friend mark notes that hyphens seem to be disappearing. Mignot fogarty, better known as grammar girl provides the public with an accessible reference on punctuation. But you would write, he writes historical fiction, or he writes picture books.
Since i thought the hyphen section of marcia riefer johnstons new book, word up. Hyphens with the prefix re grammar and punctuation. Ebooks currently make up two percent of my book sales. Do not use a hyphen if the two words have separate meanings and do not stand as a single adjective. Whether you should hyphenate year old is one of those little grammatical issues that isnt really an issue at all. A the nurse spent most of her time attending to the gravely ill patients in the intensive care unit. However, a hyphen is not required if the number is the second word in the compound adjective. Common grammar mistakes duke university medical center. The extremely common misuse of apostrophes on electronic media reminds me of what i was taught about how people spelled things how they felt like in shakespeares time, followed subsequently by the dictionary makers taking the most commonly. They are different from dashes, which are used for parenthesis or to extend a sentence. The associated press stylebook advises us to hyphenate well in a compound modifier both when it precedes a noun and when the compound follows the verb to be. Both the ap stylebook and the buzzfeed style guide already recommend spelling email without the hyphen. A perfectly nice, wellintentioned rant about hyphens.
In the previous posts in this series part 1, part 2, and part 3, we discussed the general principles of hyphenation, as describe in much more detail on pages 97100 of the publication manual. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. Peter economy is a bestselling author, coauthor, and ghostwriter of more than 55 books, including several for dummies titles. It has come to my attention of late that many of us are using hyphens. Though hyphens have several uses, were going to focus on how to use hyphens with compound adjectives. She explained the differences between dashes well and how writers can insert. A hyphen is a punctuation mark thats used to join words or parts of words. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things. Hyphens with ly words the blue book of grammar and. You are the friend, the only friend, who offered to help me. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by.
In preparing the 11th edition of the blue book of grammar and punctuation, we thought long and hard about hyphens vs. Both the ap stylebook and the buzzfeed style guide already recommend spelling. This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective. In the eleventh edition, we have included rule 2 of hyphens with prefixes and suffixes. For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word.
A perfectly nice, wellintentioned rant about hyphens lets take a minute to get grammar real. Hyphenate the written form of fractions and of compound numbers from twentyone to ninetynine. This grammar lesson offers an explanation on the correct use of hyphens and gives examples of hyphens used in sentences. Use a hyphen when spelling out numbers between 21 and 99. Its conceivable that over time, ebook may lose its hyphen. However, when two words are commonly used together, the hyphen sometimes takes over and this is what is happening here. 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. Experienced writers know that these marks are not interchangeable. Generally, when a compound modifier comes before the word it modifies, you need to use a hyphen in the compound e.
Remember to put a space between the number and unit if there isnt a hyphen. 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. If you do not find the verb in the dictionary, hyphenate it. June casagrande knows this and has invented a whole new twist on the grammar book. Compound adjectives are two or more words that together make an adjective. Its not interchangeable with other types of dashes. 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.
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