Questions about words that are created by combining two or more other words together.
5
votes
3answers
128 views
How should one properly construct compound nationalities?
Chinese American or American Chinese? Indian Briton or British Indian?
In practice, I've come across both forms and I would love to know whether this is a matter of personal preference or whether ...
2
votes
3answers
788 views
Englishman or English man?
Which group is correct (in British English)? Is there any difference? And which group do you use?
Group 1 (the one I use)
English man, English woman, English men, English women
Irish man, Irish ...
3
votes
2answers
62 views
“Four window layout” or “four windows layout”
To indicate a multiple object layout should I use four building layout or four buildings layout? Maybe they are both correct?
2
votes
3answers
1k views
How does the hyphen change the meaning in expressions like “high performance” and “high-performance”?
I'm wondering about the distinction between expressions like "high performance" and "high-performance", or "high level" and "high-level" and other similar pairs of words which are sometimes used with ...
8
votes
4answers
541 views
Killer Queen. The usage of noun sequences of length two and more. Ambiguity of nouns phrases in English
I have a question about nouns triplets like "sofa box container" and I'll formulate it at the end. I have some reasoning and I want to make sure I'm correct.
First of all consider the following ...
45
votes
9answers
3k views
“Username”, “user name” or “user-name”
In computer science, you should have a username or a user name or a user-name and a password to be able to log into the system.
Which one is the correct spelling?
1
vote
2answers
354 views
0
votes
3answers
178 views
Is the phrase “large number core machine” correct?
I would like to use the following phrase for a machine with large number cores. Is this correct? Please let me know.
large number core machine
6
votes
4answers
6k views
“Real time”, “real-time” or “realtime”
Which of real time, real-time and realtime is correct when you are talking about seeing something as it happens?
6
votes
2answers
242 views
Why the “meat” in “sweetmeat”?
This has always confused me. Dictionary.com doesn't help at all. Candy and meat just don't go together that well.
0
votes
2answers
632 views
Hyphenation in compound adjectives [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
To hyphenate or not?
When is it necessary to use a hyphen in writing a compound word?
When is it appropriate to use a hyphen?
In the sentence "Portland is known to ...
3
votes
3answers
210 views
Parsing of a compound noun with many words
How should I understand this phrase: "threat analysis model", which means:
An analysis model of threat, or put in parentheses: (threat(analysis model)
A model of threat analysis: (threat analysis ...
12
votes
3answers
6k views
Is it “front-end”, “frontend”, or “front end”?
Possible Duplicate:
When to use a hyphen in writing a compound word
Which is correct?
front-end engineering
frontend engineering
front end engineering
I looked over ...
1
vote
2answers
189 views
“boilinghot” vs “boiling-hot” vs “boiling hot”
As the title indicates, these three forms of words/phrases can be quite confusing to me sometimes. When should they be written as one word ("boilinghot"), when should they be written in two words ...
2
votes
4answers
360 views
How to write dashes in “a 2-4-room-apartment”?
I want to write in the announcement a description of an eventual apartment, which I am searching as a rental. I am interested in apartments with 2, 3, or 4 rooms. How should I write the compound ...
1
vote
2answers
114 views
Is “webdesigner” a word?
I am a uh, designer of websites, and I would like to use the phrase for my profession correctly. Unfortunately, webdesigner is flagged by Google Chrome's spellchecker as a misspelling, and web ...
5
votes
2answers
664 views
Why do we call snail mail “snail mail”?
Why do we call snail mail "snail mail"?
So by default mail will refer to email?
8
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the difference between “onetime” and “one time”?
I was reading a book that had a sentence containing this:
...onetime commissioner of New York...
3
votes
1answer
278 views
Do any print dictionaries admit “everytime” as a word?
I've noticed a tendency for more and more two-word phrases with even slightly idiomatic usage being written more and more as single word compounds. Today when I came across "everytime" written as a ...
1
vote
0answers
183 views
Proper use of hyphens for compound noun 'system model driven approach' [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
How to connect a word and a phrase with a dash?
Multiple compound words
Should I use “ related” or “-related”
I'm aware of the general rules ...
6
votes
5answers
2k views
Compound words: what real compound word is composed of most words?
I was looking at this question about the word albeit and it got me thinking... what is the most compound, non-hyphenated, real word in English? Strictly speaking, albeit might not be counted as a ...
3
votes
3answers
548 views
Correct use of “wake up”
English isn't my native language (Spanish is), so this question may be very basic, but it is worse not to ask.
Which of these two phrases is the correct one?
I'm trying to wake and get up from ...
1
vote
2answers
123 views
Is single usage of “personality” in “Multiple Personality” jargon or correct English?
Should not the "personality" have been pluralized in "Multiple Personality Disorder"?
Is the single usage of "personality" with prepending "multiple" a professional jargon or it is the correct ...
3
votes
1answer
173 views
Do you read the 'c' in 'kc'?
For example:
clickcub
clickcube
clickcrab
clickcrate
clickcone
In which of those cases do you read the 'c' and not?
3
votes
1answer
440 views
Multiple compound words [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to connect a word and a phrase with a dash?
Hello, I'm a non-native English speaker and I'm writing a scientific paper about biometric identification based on heart ...
3
votes
1answer
158 views
What is the rule for composing two words, when one of them is hyphenized or has spaces?
Let's imagine we have an organization named EFSMA-EE and another called EFSMA Telecom (EFSMA is an acronym).
If I want to compose these with another word (e.g. "time" - as in "full-time"), what ...
2
votes
2answers
602 views
“One-Day Only Promotion” or “One-Day-Only Promotion”
A copywriter I'm working with wrote "One-Day Only Promotion" but my feeling is that "One-Day-Only Promotion" is correct. The first three words describe 'Promotion'. I know you don't hyphenate adverbs, ...
5
votes
3answers
534 views
Is there a grammar rule behind the hyphen in the phrase 'one-act play'?
I noticed that the phrase 'one-act play' always uses a hyphen between 'one' and 'act'.
Is there a grammar rule in play here, how does it work?
2
votes
1answer
288 views
What does 'Reno-era' policy mean?
I saw the following sentence in today's Washington Post article. What does 'Reno-era' policy mean? It's a new word to me. Can somebody tell?
Reno-era policy kept Jared Loughner off FBI gun list.
...
3
votes
2answers
10k views
“Ongoing” or “on-going”
As per the title, is the proper usage "ongoing" or "on-going" when writing something such as ongoing research projects?
2
votes
1answer
760 views
21
votes
5answers
743 views
Words that are pluralized in the middle?
This is purely a curiosity, but I'm fascinated by mid-word pluralization, even if the word in question is a compound word.
For example, passersby or standersby.
No others have occurred to me. Can ...
0
votes
2answers
3k views
Can “whatever” be split into two words?
I tend to write, "say whatever they want", but I'm always tempted to write "say what ever they want". Is it acceptable to split the word in this context?
15
votes
4answers
739 views
Obscenities considered less obscene in compounds? [NSFW]
There are at least a few cases in which a compound word or phrase, transparently containing an obscene word, seems to be considered less obscene (in some dialect/registers/circumstances) than the word ...
1
vote
2answers
353 views
What is right way to write this (break-down)
I prepared report on total spending in month along with break down by items.
3
votes
2answers
154 views
“file name” or “name of the file”?
Which is version is correct?
filename or file name helped me a little, but didn't answer my questions, please see below.
program <filename> - where <filename> is the file name you want ...
8
votes
2answers
546 views
Why are some words combined into a single word while others stay as two words?
Examples:
Anyone
Anything
Anytime
Anywhere
Everyone
Everything
Every time
Everywhere
No one
Nothing
No time
Nowhere
Someone
Something
Sometime
Somewhere
Why is there a discrepancy? Is there any ...
8
votes
2answers
257 views
Chainsaw-equipped or chainsaw equipped?
Is it chainsaw-equipped or chainsaw equipped? And with what kind of former words to use "-" properly?
12
votes
3answers
2k views
“Time zone” vs. “Timezone”
My spell checker shows that both "time zone" and "timezone" are correctly spelled. Which one of these is the correct one to use?
12
votes
4answers
4k views
Should I use “ related” or “-related”
What is the correct use of the term "related?" For example, should I use it like computer related, or is it more proper to use computer-related (where the word "computer" is just part of my ...
2
votes
3answers
650 views
“Adult and children stories” or “Adults and children stories”?
How do you say it correctly?
Adult and children stories
Adults and children stories
Adults' and children's stories
other?
