Punctuation Station: Spoon-Feeding You Hyphens
Welcome, fellow writers, editors, and language enthusiasts! In this week’s installation of punctuation discussion, I want to talk about the various uses of hyphens in writing – not to be confused with en-dashes (–) and em-dashes (—).
Hyphens are usually implemented as a method of erasing any possible ambiguity in writing. For example, the difference between a ‘small-business owner’ and a ‘small business owner’ is that the latter could be confused for describing the subject’s height, as opposed to describing the size of the business in question. In this case, the hyphen clears up the potential ambiguity.
Time to dive in and have a look at all the fun and unique ways you can use hyphens in your writing!
PSA: HYPHENS ARE NOT DASHES
On a basic level, hyphens and dashes are physically different. A hyphen (-) is very short and is used to connect words and add prefixes or suffixes to words. An en-dash (–) is slightly longer and is usually used in place of parentheses, semi-colon, or as a way to show a span of numerics. An em-dash (—) is much longer and generally is not seen used in UK texts, based on the style guidelines laid out by the University of Oxford.
Perhaps I will make a separate blog post about dashes in the future. Though, I’m not sure how long I would be able to stretch something like that out!
Compound Nouns and Verbs
Did you know I’m a hard-working small-business owner?
Compound Nouns
The most basic use of hyphens is to join two independent nouns together, to create compound nouns.
‘They served rainbow-coloured cake at the party.’
On top of this, hyphenation can be used to clarify the meaning of phrases which may otherwise be misunderstood.
‘great-grandfather’ — one of your parents’ grandfathers.
‘great grandfather’ — a grandfather you are describing as ‘great’.
Additionally, it is worth noting that hyphenated compound nouns generally don’t pluralise as you would expect them to.
⨉ ‘The company I work for has two editor-in-chiefs.’
√ ‘The company I work for has two editors-in-chief.’
Compound Verbs
Generally, hyphens are used with verbs for the same reason as above, to create a compound verb by preceding the generic verb with a noun.
‘spoon-feeding’, ‘freeze-drying’, ‘fact-checking’
Combinations
Let’s mash some words together.
Adjective-Noun
This type of combination is usually used to create a single adjective, often you see this used to express ages, distances, etc. The use of hyphens in this way helps to clarify that both (or all) words modify the noun they precede.
‘My sister has a 7-year-old daughter.’
‘There’s a 30-minute wait on this ride.’
Note that the noun is not included in the hyphenation. ‘7-year-old-daughter’ would be incorrect usage.
Adverb-Adjective
The same can be said for adverb-adjective combinations, the only difference being the type of words involved in the combination and the use cases. While the previous examples work well with age ranges and measurements, adverb-adjective combinations are usually seen to describe the qualities of a person or item.
‘She’s a hard-working employee.’
‘They’re a well-known author.’
Prefixes
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Prefixes
When prefixes are involved, a hyphen is only necessary if it will provide clarity. For example, if the prefix repeats the first few letters of the word it is prefacing, or if it creates a double letter.
‘Her latest work solidified her position as the pre-eminent voice in contemporary feminist literature.’
‘Recovered animals are re-released from the shelter.’
‘We thank you for your co-operation.’
Additionally, a hyphen will be used if the prefix comes before a proper name, a number, or a date.
‘The academic year begins in mid-September’
‘She doesn’t listen to pre-2000 music.’
‘Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug.’
There are many nuances involved in the use of hyphens when writing. As a writer, it can help to be familiar with the more common use cases – you can leave worrying about the rest to your editor, wink!
I’ll see you next week for a riveting blog post about tautologies. Never heard of them? Better tune in next Tuesday! Until then:
Keep practising, keep learning, and most importantly, keep writing!
