Open Writing Lab

Hyphens

28.10.2011 CGB

**use is continually evolving

check!

Using hyphens …

1. Language in transition:• 2 words often used together• used with a hyphen• becomes a compound word

sea floor sea-floor seafloordeep sea deep-sea deepsea

health care health-care healthcare

Using hyphens …

2. When 2 or more words form a single adjective or noun:

red-haired, know-it-all, round-the-island, light-year, has-been, well-known, well-established

He was well known. / The well-known professor …The rule was well established. / … breaking the well-established rule

NB. The book cost ten dollars. It was a ten-dollar book.

Using hyphens …

3. When there are several modifiers, to make the meaning less ambiguous:

low-frequency amplitudes, low- and high-frequency amplitudes

Using hyphens …

4. Modifiers with numbers and units:

5-g dose, 50-km radius**3-year-old child

Using hyphens …

5. Sometimes with prefixes:

ex- self- all- pre- quasi-pre-Columbian, sub-Saharan Africa, self-inflicted

**In scientific writing more common to nonhyphenatecooperate, coordinate

Using hyphens …

6. When there is a potential for visual confusions because of repeated letters:

meta-analysis

shell-like

semi-independent

micro-organisms

Using hyphens …

7. Sometimes verbs need hyphens to indicate correct meaning:

He re-covered the explored well. / He recovered quickly from the race.

Such patients are usually re-treated. / The water retreated from the structures.

Using hyphens …

8. E-terms: where “e” stands for “electronic”

e-mail, e-commerce

Or not using hyphens …

1. When a compound modifier contains an adverb that ends in –ly, the two words are never hyphenated.

highly motivated, easily distracted

Or not using hyphens …

2. Some well-established terms drop the hyphen:

freezing point determination, amino acid residues, …

Or not using hyphens …

3. For Latin phrases used adjectivally:

a post hoc hypothesisin vitro testing

a quid pro quo arrangement

Or not using hyphens …

4. For letters used as modifiers in scientific terms:

LE cells / LE-cell rosettes

T lymphocytes / T-cell lymphocyte functions

Or not using hyphens …

5. Compound modifiers involving a comparative or superlative adjective:

better adjusted children

least favourable outcome

More …

http://folk.uib.no/gmset/writing/practical_tips/hyphens.html

CGB’s Open Writing Labhttp://folk.uib.no/gmset/writing/open_writing_lab.html