HYPHENS

If your teacher marks “Hy,” identify the rule you violated.

Hy: some compounds and prefixes require hyphens.

PREFIXES: anti-intellectual, ex-wife, self-employed

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES: fast-paced, hard-headed, red-blooded, a ninth-grade student

COMPOUND NOUNS: blow-by-blow, love-in

A hyphen combines two words (or parts of words) into a single word (usually an adjective or houn). Ask yourself if your phrase is functioning as a single word. If it is, it probably requires a hyphen. If you are unsure, consult a dictionary.

In the first two sentences, “ninth” modifies “grade” and “grader,” respectively:

NO HYPHEN: In ninth grade she entered a new school.

NO HYPHEN: As a ninth grader she entered a new school.

In the next two, “ninth-grade” modifies “student” and “year,” respectively:

HYPHEN: As a ninth-grade student she was new to the school.

HYPHEN: In her ninth-grade year she entered the school.

Placement of hyphens requires care. Note the subtle but important differences below:

two million-dollar deals

two-million-dollar deals

right- and left-handed pitchers

right-and-left swaying motion

Compounds involving numbers, if they serve as adjectives, may require more than one hyphen:

twenty cents

a twenty-cent bet

twenty-five cents

a twenty-five-cent bet

Hy.E: divide words at the end of lines to make margins and spacing regular.

Start at the top of the page, for each hyphen may change the rest of the paragraph. Divide words only at syllable breaks. Never divide a one-syllable word or a word of five or fewer letters. Never leave short syllables (one or two letters) at the end or beginning of a line. Divide compounds like “self-educated” only at the existing hyphen (for example, after “self-,” not after “self-edu-”).

Hy.T: typography.

Three errors are common. If your teacher marks “Hy.T,” identify which error(s) you committed.

1. Do not confuse a hyphen with a dash.

2. Do not leave a space before or after the hyphen.

3. Do not put a hyphen at the left margin.

HYPHEN: The word-dividing hyphen is a shorter mark that goes within a word.

DASH: The dash—a longer mark—goes between words and divides sentences.

WRONG: self - educated

RIGHT: self-educated

Hy.X: misuse of hyphens.

If your teacher marks “Hy X,” identify the error you committed:

Distinguish compound adjectives from phrases that are not compound adjectives:

It is his ninth-grade year.

He is in the ninth grade.

He is a ninth grader.

Do not use a hyphen when an “-ly” adverb modifies an adjective:

WRONG: racially-biased, nearly-finished

RIGHT: racially biased, nearly finished

The position of a phrase can determine whether it requires hyphens:

HYPHEN: Corrupt officials took under-the-table payments. (compound adjective)

NO HYPHEN: Corrupt officials took payments under the table. (prepositional phrase)

“Well” is an adverb; if a “well” phrase follows the verb, the comma is unnecessary:

WRONG: The job is well-done.

RIGHT: The job is well done.

If the phrase comes before the verb, a hyphen is optional:

RIGHT: It is a well-done job.

RIGHT: It is a well done job.

DASHES

D: use a dash to mark an abrupt but temporary turn of thought.

A dash is less formal than a comma, colon or parenthesis. Think of it as a Pause button. It tells readers, “Don’t lose the thread of my sentence, for I need to add something before I go on.” When a period or another dash appears, readers know it is time to return to the original train of thought:

The nutritional value—if the term can even be applied to Spam—is minimal.

Spam does little good for the consumer’s health—not to mention the pig’s.

Dashes can set off appositives (noun phrases equivalent to other nouns in the sentence):

Just reading the ingredients—Spam, Velveeta, mayonnaise—can raise your cholesterol.

The most common error is the omission of the second dash.

A dash may follow a question mark or exclamation point but not a comma, period, semicolon or colon:

RIGHT: Her questions—“What day is it?” and “Which way is up?”—revealed her confusion.

WRONG: His nicknames—Slowpoke, Slug, Leadfoot,—did not strike fear into opponents.

RIGHT: His nicknames—Slowpoke, Slug, Leadfoot—did not strike fear into opponents.

DT: typography.

Do not (a) confuse a dash with a hyphen or (b) leave a space before or after the dash.

WRONG (hyphen, not dash): He kept his plan a secret-except, of course, from his wife.

WRONG (unnecessary space): He kept his plan a secret — except, of course, from his wife.

WRONG (both errors): He kept his plan a secret - except, of course, from his wife.

RIGHT: He kept his plan a secret—except, of course, from his wife.

Before the computer age, it was conventional to indicate a dash by typing two hyphens--as in this sentence--with no blank spaces. Word processing has made it easy to type a dash. If you write by hand, do not use two hyphens; use an unbroken line longer than a hyphen.

HYPHEN: The word-dividing hyphen is a shorter mark that goes with a word or makes two or more words into one.

DASH: The dash—a longer mark—goes between words and separates parts of sentences.

Do not settle for using two hyphens. Learn to reset your word processing program to type dashes.

Formatting Dashes

Microsoft Word

To make dashes appear automatically:

Tools > AutoCorrect > AutoFormat as You Type > Replace as you type > Symbol characters (--) with symbols (—) > OK.

Once you have set the AutoFormat command, all you have to do is type two hyphens, and they will automatically change to a dash. However, you must have at least one letter before and after the two hyphens. The hyphens will not change into a dash until you space once after the letter or word that follows the dash.

Google Docs

To insert an em-dash (not to be confused with the shorter en-dash):

1. Place the cursor where you want the dash.

2. Then Insert > Special characters > Search by keyword. Type em-dash.

To make dashes appear automatically:

3. Copy an em-dash from a document.

4. Then Tools > Preferences > Substitutions > Replace.

5. In “Replace,” enter a code you will remember. The most commonly used code is two hyphens: --.

6. In “With,” copy the em-dash and click “OK.”

Then an em-dash should appear any time you type you code followed by a space. You may need to backspace to eliminate the space after the dash.

DX: use dashes sparingly.

Careless or excessive dashes make a page ugly and give the impression of scatterbrained thinking.