The Hyphen

1. The Hyphen (From Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss, 2003)

2. “There are a great many hyphens left in America. For my part, I think the most un-American thing in the world is a hyphen.” Woodrow Wilson, 1919 1856-1924 Former US President, 1912-1920. Re-elected in 1916.)

3. Uses of the Hyphen • 1. To avoid ambiguity. • A re-formed musical group. • (The group separated and then came back together) • A reformed musical group. • (The group had “problems/issues” but has since changed for the better) • A long-standing friend. (Friend for a long time) • A long standing friend. (The friend has been standing upright for a long time)

4. 2. Spelling out numbers. • Twenty-three. • Forty-two. • 3. Linking nouns to other nouns. • The London-Brighton train. • American-French relations. • Tarzan the ape-man.

5. 4. A noun phrase modifying another noun. • Stainless steel – not hyphenated, just an adjective modifying a noun. • Stainless-steel kitchen – “stainless steel” works as a noun phrase, and the hyphen prevents reading it as a stainless kitchen made out of steel.

6. 5. Certain (but not all) prefixes. • Un-American • Anti-Communist • Quasi-grammatical • But not: • Prejudice • Subordinate

7. 6. Spelling out words • Muammar Qaddafi’s name has been spelled: • G-h-a-d-d-a-f-i • K-a-d-d-a-f-i • G-a-d-h-a-f-i • K-h-a-d-a-f-y • (and over 30 other variants)

8. 7. To avoid “letter collision” in compound words: • Shell-like, not Shelllike • Re-elect, not reelect. • De-ice, not deice.

9. 8. Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:pref-er-encesell-ingin-di-vid-u-al-ist • 9. For line breaks, divide already-hyphenated words only at the hyphen: • mass-producedself-conscious

10. When does a word stop being hyphenated? • Through repeated use, typically. • Previous hyphenated words: • To-morrow • Sub-marine • Good-bye

11. What’s the difference? • Little-used car. • Little used car. • Pickled-eggs salesman. • Pickled eggs salesman.