Hyphens Join and Clarify

Hyphens are joiners. Their use can be more a matter of taste or writing style than a grammatical absolute.

However, sometimes hyphens are required in order to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding.

For example, if you write, “The small business seminar begins at 9 a.m.,” you might wonder whether it is a small seminar or whether it is a seminar for small businesses.

But if you write, “The small-business seminar begins at 9 a.m.,” you know that it will focus on information helpful to small businesses. By hyphenating small-business, you create a compound modifier; small-business modifies the noun, seminar, adding clarity.

Here are other cases where a hyphen joins two words that are modifiers, ensuring that their meaning is clear:

  • first-quarter profits
  • full-time job
  • little-known man
  • second-rate movie
  • low-income housing

When a modifier that is hyphenated before a noun follows the noun, it often is not hyphenated:

  • Profits were up in the company's first quarter.
  • She accepted the job, but it involved working full time in another city.

But to keep you on your toes, our language of course has exceptions: When a compound modifier follows a form of the verb to be (is, was, has been), it usually retains the hyphen:

  • The man who appeared on the news broadcast was little-known.
  • We both saw the movie, and we agree with you that it is second-rate.

These examples just scratch the surface when it comes hyphen use. I'll present more hyphen guidelines in a future column.

Ruthless Editor follows The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law guidelines for word and punctuation usage. Webster's New World College Dictionary serves as a secondary reference.

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