Questions tagged [hyphenation]

A hyphen is a symbol used to join two words or two syllables of a single word together. It is not to be confused with dashes or the minus symbol, as these are all longer than the hyphen and serve different purposes in language.

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Using 'Quasi-' as prefix [closed]

Which spelling is correct? Quasi-stationary Quasi-Stationary Quasi stationary
s28's user avatar
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1 answer
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Hyphenation of compounds with terms made of two words

Working on a thesis, I was wondering how to correctly hyphenate (if at all) the term "high data rate" in the following sentence: High data rate ECUs are connected directly to the backbone. ...
paolo's user avatar
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Should I hyphenate “Haunted Mansion themed outfit”?

In a sentence “She wore a Haunted Mansion themed outfit.” Should there be any hyphens? a) a Haunted Mansion themed outfit b) a Haunted-Mansion themed outfit c) a Haunted-Mansion-themed outfit d) a ...
Nikki Wynne's user avatar
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1 answer
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Are either of the phrases "African-American individuals" or "European-American individuals" hyphenated? [closed]

This is in American English, but if it is different in British English, it is worth a mention.
BigMistake's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is there a name for the misuse of a hyphen/dash?

I'm wondering if there is a name for the misuse of a dash in English Grammar. For clarity, I say 'dash' because I see them used in a way that the writer may think is an em dash, but more often writers ...
Astralbee's user avatar
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Time off request or time-off request? [duplicate]

Hello fellow grammar lovers! I need some help. I'm working on HR resources and have run into a bit of a conundrum about how to write about PTO. I know that I "would like to take time off." ...
user482599's user avatar
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How to hyphenate "upper middle class" when used as an adjective? [duplicate]

I am proofreading an article and have come across: "to a focus on a fulfilled (upper)middle-class life". At first I was simply going to put a space between the closing parenthesis and the &...
Phil's user avatar
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If you must split the word anonymous at the end of a line, where should the hyphen go? [duplicate]

If you must split the word anonymous at the end of a text line, where should the hyphen go? How would you split the word?
Sara Scott's user avatar
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Hyphenating a term that has spaces [duplicate]

I would typically use the term "electric field" like so: "[...] therefore, it has a high electric field". If I wanted to hyphenate this term with a compound word, how would I do so?...
user479832's user avatar
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How should I punctuate a phrasal adjective with additional adjective before the noun?

I am trying to discover the correct hyphenation and/or comma placement for the following sentence relating to honey bees: When she hatches out of her egg, she is placed into a royal jelly filled ...
Groundhog's user avatar
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Hyphen in "a much-needed physiological understanding of..."

Although it looks and feels perhaps superfluous to me, it seems the hyphen is correct in these sentences, according to Chicago or other style guides, but I wish to confirm this. A much-needed ...
Typothalamus's user avatar
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Is the word subprocedure; sub-procedure; or sub procedure correct? [duplicate]

I want to use the single word variety, but my spellchecker is telling me the split two words is correct. This looks wrong to me, is there a standard for this type of word and "prefix"?
Jay's user avatar
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Where should one place word division dots in "Schroedinger" (with "oe" instead of "ö")?

According to Merriam-Webster, the 'word division dots' for Schrödinger are placed like this: Schrö·ding·er. However, some sources (mostly older ones), use the spelling Schroedinger, with "oe"...
linguisticturn's user avatar
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1 answer
166 views

Is [Pre-Populates, Pre Populates, Prepopulates] a word?

[Pre-Populates, Pre Populates, Prepopulates] Simple at first but after some research I can't actually find much on this. Background/Context: I need to write some sort of tech specification and the ...
Shaun Moore's user avatar
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Deep learning-based approach VS deep learning approach

I would like to find an expression to describe the approaches that use deep learning to solve a computer-related task and then compare them to the traditional approaches i.e., the approaches that do ...
Ben Bost's user avatar
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How should partial dates hyphened? [closed]

I want to write an abbreviated period of time that goes from 2017 to 2019. I have thought of writing it either as 2017-19 or 2017 - 19 The difference is in the spacing. Which option is best? Also, ...
Hector's user avatar
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An inner-product space or an inner product space?

I have seen both of these being used for referring to a mathematical object (a vector space with a certain structure on it called the inner product). I am assuming both are accepted since they appear ...
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Hyphenating modifiers

Sometimes it's easy to tell when modifiers need to be hyphenated, such as "time-dependent model", "well-known problem", etc. But sometimes I get confused whether the noun is ...
yiyfy's user avatar
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How to write slashes with multiple words on either side [duplicate]

If I wanted to separate something like "family member" and "friend" with a slash, the first thing I would try is this: "family member/friend". But that looks like it is ...
Adam's user avatar
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13 votes
10 answers
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Is post-hyphenation necessary in "I am a child and adult psychologist..."?

I am editing a bio for a non-writer who has written: "I am a child and adult psychologist..." This is awkward... it sounds like he's a child. How do I remedy this? Is it something like: &...
Wed's user avatar
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"second largest" vs "second-largest" [duplicate]

Does this construct require an hyphen? Example: "We obtained the dataset from HP, the second largest firm in the US by revenues." "We obtained the dataset from HP, the second-largest ...
robertspierre's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
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Pumpkin-Eating festival/Pumpkin-Eating Festival [closed]

Do I have to hyphenate the last word of this phrase, which is the name of a festival? I do know that the first word, which is a compound adjective, is certainly hyphenated, but about the word festival ...
user472093's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
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Should one avoid hyphenating prefixed words in scientific papers?

I have noticed that many papers and books (in the engineering and mathematical fields, at least) have a preference for avoiding hyphenated prefixes. For instance, they usually write: preprocessing ...
Rubem Pacelli's user avatar
1 vote
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What is the most proper way to add -ing to acronyms? [duplicate]

Sometimes acronyms represent actions. For example, a Super Smash Bros. player may be said to be "DI-ing" (Directional influencing). In these situations, what would be the best-established ...
Passhonrippu on Twitch's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
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Skipping the repeated part of a partially repeated hyphenated adjective

I read this in today's New York Times: The bloggers have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks in calling for an overhaul of Russia’s approach to war to protect its shrinking gains in Ukraine ...
xxx_yyy's user avatar
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2 votes
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Suspending non-hyphenated compounds of two nouns [closed]

I know that I can use hyphens to suspend compounds that are written with a hyphen to begin with, for example "first-class fares and second-class fares" can be written as "first- and ...
Joe7's user avatar
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Correct hyphenation in compound adjective

I want to rephrase The costs they compute are weighted by time intervals. by They compute time interval-weighted costs. The question is, what is the correct hyphenation? time interval weighted ...
user469240's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

Why are compound words not entirely consistent?

Some compound words are separated by a space (e.g. ice cream). Others are simply joined together (e.g. football, doorknob). Others still are hyphenated (e.g. long-term, off-topic). Why is the handling ...
user467410's user avatar
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19 views

Usage of hypens when using two compund nouns [duplicate]

I was wondering about the correct usage of the hyphen in cases of the form: In the short- and long-run. As opposed to: In the short and long-run. Is the first case accepted?
Weierstraß Ramirez's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
219 views

"still-warm" or "still-beating" heart - hyphen or no?

A copy editor wants to remove the hyphen from the "still-warm" in a (medieval-themed) comic: A noise very much like the sound of me ripping your still-warm heart from your ribcage. I ...
jps7's user avatar
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1 answer
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Noun-adjective hyphenation when noun contains a numeral

The specific context here is Machine Learning technical writing, but I think this question fits here because I just haven't seen any discussion of this anywhere, and few examples in my field, so I'm ...
SRobProsc's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
72 views

Is it correct to write "free-of-the-war"? [closed]

Is it correct in English to write "free-of-the-war" as an adjective via hyphens? For example, "I live in a free-of-the-war part of Ukraine" And how about "yet"? That is &...
stkuser's user avatar
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Hyphens in compound words where the second word is a verb [duplicate]

Do you hyphenate a compound word made from a noun and a verb, such as 'hand knitted', when the compound does not come before a noun? E.g.: 'This jumper is hand knitted.'
AJB's user avatar
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Three-times vs three times

Three times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014. vs. Three-times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014. Is there a difference between ...
Monika's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
183 views

Can you please tell me what “a-thump” means?

Can you please tell me what a-thump means in the following sentence taken from Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca? Why is the hyphen used there? And Jasper, dear Jasper, with his soulful eyes and great, ...
Bucatariu David Flavius's user avatar
-2 votes
2 answers
38 views

Is it correct to write "two possible approaches on how to solve this issue will be discussed - public awareness campaigns and public services"?

I am especially interested if the hyphen in the sentence is used correctly and if this can be called a hyphen in the first place. This source states that it should rather be called "em-dash"....
JAKWAI's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Which one is correct : "The movie is well received." or "The movie is well-received."?

Can we hyphenate predicative adjective? I learnt that usually we don't hyphenate predicate adjective. For example, He is well known. However, for the word "well-received" , which is listed ...
Marcus Vitruvius's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
45 views

How to hyphenate "long-term-oriented portfolio?"

Do I just use one hyphen, as in: long-term oriented portfolio Or go all in with: long-term-oriented portfolio I feel like the whole thing is a compound adjective because oriented is also an ...
Firsh - justifiedgrid.com's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
47 views

To notate a weekday schedule like "M-F" or "M~F", what is more commonly used, a hyphen "-" or tilde "~"?

I ask this under the assumption that "M-F" and "M~F" are the most commonly preferred notations for abbreviation weekday schedules if using 3-letter abbreviations like "Mon&...
CreativiTimothy's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Differences between "machine learning" and "machine-learning" [duplicate]

I am currently editing a scientific text in which the term "machine learning" (ML) appears several times with a hyphen (i.e., "machine-learning") and several times without. Are ...
Enk9456's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
59 views

Hyphenation when adding a prefix to a hyphenated phrase

Consider these hyphenated phrases: "State-of-the-art design" "family-owned cafe" Are the following modified phrases punctuated correctly ? Are they idiomatic in speech and ...
Golden_Ratio's user avatar
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0 answers
27 views

Is a hyphen necessary when dropping the second word of the first of two open compound nouns?

The title is quite confusing, so here is the quote that I am unsure about: It was observed that the arm- and leg movements were... If I understand correctly, 'arm movements' and 'leg movements' are ...
Gary Rendle's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
62 views

Is it 'a' L-formula or 'an' L-formula? [duplicate]

In Logic & Mathematics textbooks, the terms 'L-formula', or 'L-term', or 'L-theory' are used. (Though for math, it is reserved to mathematical logic.) I've witnessed it first-hand, and I'm sure ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
47 views

Can a stem be used with differing prefixes, such as in "pre- and suffixes"?

Does the English language allow for reusing a word stem in the context of multiple prefixes? E.g.: pre- and suffixes both need a stem sur- and interfaces The machine was dis- and reassembled If so,...
FelixJN's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
4k views

"Multi-Award-Winning" or "Multi-Award Winning"?

Which one is the correct use? I know that "award-winning" uses a hyphen and that "multi" needs a hyphen, but I'm not sure if the hyphen gets a double or single use in "multi-...
Brian Holloway Jr's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
50 views

"Vehicle-model design" or "vehicle model-design"

Which is the correct way to use the hyphen? a) Vehicle-model design b) Vehicle model-design From experience, option b) seems accurate as it can be replaced with "design of vehicle model."
ananta's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
143 views

Do we hyphen ordinal numbers written in letters? [closed]

Knowing that we hyphen compound numbers under 100. Do we do the same for the ones used for ranks? Every website I've looked at teaches how to hyphen cardinal numbers (67, 82, 34,...) but does not say ...
Eren8hisfather's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
173 views

How should I hyphen decimal numbers written in letters (that contains the word "point" and "and")?

All the wesites I've looked at says to hyphen numbers when you are describing compound numbers between 21 and 99 (except 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90). A compound number is any number that consists ...
Eren8hisfather's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
40 views

"health product industry" or "health-product industry"? [duplicate]

I would have written "health-product industry", but Googling makes "health product industry" seem more common. I thought that if we created a compound adjective ("health-...
Sammaron's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
1k views

Time series: hyphenated or not?

I am facing a consistency issue when proofreading a paper regarding the use of the term 'time series'. When used as a standalone noun, it seems to be written as 'time series', with the two words being ...
Triton84's user avatar

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