Prompt Proofing Blog Post: More on the Dreaded Hyphen!
Still worried about hyphens? Rearranging sentences to avoid the issue? It's all about clarity - that is the main point of grammar; if your sentence is ambiguous, then you've failed to communicate.

VANCOUVER, BC, March 11, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Still worried about hyphens? Rearranging sentences to avoid the issue?

It's all about clarity - that is the main point of grammar; if your sentence is ambiguous, then you've failed to communicate. Look at the headline below (courtesy of Edit, Edit, Edit):

Policeman Helps Dog Bite Victim

See how a hyphen would clear this up?

Hyphens frequently provide clarity in a sentence that could otherwise be ambiguous.

A "small-business owner" is not necessarily the same as a "small business owner".

When dealing with compound adjectives, a good rule of thumb is to separate the two adjectives, or the adjective and its modifying adverb, and see if either word makes sense (in that context) on its own. For example:

Apple introduces its new, user-friendly software.

It does not make any sense to describe the software as "user" and not much to describe it as "friendly"; this is a classic example of a compound adjective that should be hyphenated.

Likewise: A well-designed building, a cost-effective system, a long-eared rabbit, etc.

Then there are the numbers:

Did we plant "ten year-old trees" or "ten-year-old trees"?

Does the hospital maternity unit have "two-week-old babies" or "two week-old babies"? Clarity!

Whenever a number is involved - there must be a hyphen, for example:

A two-week vacation, a one-hour meeting, a five-year-old child, or a four-minute mile.

Next week we'll look into hyphens further with a post on hyphenating those pesky prefixes!

Check back next Friday for another Prompt Proofing blog post!

About the Author

Pat Wootton is originally from England and is a former high school English teacher. Having spent many years in the Caribbean, where she raised her family, she now lives in Vancouver, BC. In addition, she has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) for several years after earning a diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of British Columbia. She now owns and runs Prompt Proofing, a copy editing and writing service that caters to individuals and partners with marketing and public relations companies.

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