This writing tool uses machine learning technology uniquely designed to catch grammar and spelling errors. Not sure if you’re using the hyphen, en dash, or em dash correctly? Check your writing on ’s Grammar Coach™. Ready to test your punctuation skills? Quiz yourself on hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. ✅ Correct: Everyone ran from the quickly approaching tornado. ❌ Incorrect: Everyone ran from the quickly-approaching tornado. ✅ Correct: It was a closely guarded secret. ❌ Incorrect: It was a closely-guarded secret. This rule applies even if it comes before a noun. However, we typically do not use a hyphen if a compound word begins with an adverb formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective or participle. It is possible to use adverbs in compound words that use hyphens, such as in high-flying or up-close. However, there is one common mistake to watch out for. Em dash: Pauses and interrupted dialogue, as in The letter revealed that the culprit was someone I had never considered-me! or “I need you to-” was all he managed to say before falling overboard.Īs long as you can figure out if a word uses a hyphen or not, hyphens themselves don’t cause too many problems.En dash: Ranges and more complex compound words, as in Please read pages 17–35 and She was a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist.Hyphen: Compound words and line breaks.He is a quick breakdown of how we generally use these three different marks: However, these three punctuation marks are not used interchangeably. The hyphen closely resembles the two types of dashes, the en dash (–) and the em dash (-). Depending on the style guide, other rules and exceptions will need to be followed.A word that already has a hyphen is simply split according to the hyphen.For example, running would be written as run-ning. If a word ends in -ing, a double consonant is split.For example, if a word uses prefixes or suffixes, you can use these to divide a word. Look for ways to deconstruct the word naturally.For example, we would write cov-er rather than c-over.
A word is split after a complete syllable.Although the specifics vary depending on style guides, the general rules are typically as follows: In certain written works, such as newspapers or magazine articles, a hyphen is often used to divide a word across two lines for formatting reasons. twenty-five, forty-seven, sixty-one, eighty-eight.We use hyphens when writing out the numbers 21 through 99: self-esteem, self-pity, self-reflection, self-serving, self-centered.Most (but not all) compound words that begin with self use a hyphen, regardless what part of speech they are. anti-imperialist, co-own, pre-existing, semi-independent.If a prefix ends with the same letter as the main word, we may use a hyphen to make the word appear less awkward or confusing: We can never go back to the way things were in the pre-2000 world.The story seemed to have an anti-French bias.When using prefixes, use a hyphen if the main word is capitalized, is a number, or is an abbreviation. In addition to these two, there are some other general rules that are typically followed regarding compound words. Learn more about compound adjectives here. She is looking for snacks that are fat free.If the compound adjective comes after the noun, we typically don’t hyphenate it: If the compound adjective comes before the noun, use a hyphen between the two words that form it: In general, there are two rules for using a compound adjective. Often, you can form an adjective out of almost any pair of words you can think of, so many “temporary” compound words won’t appear in a dictionary. So, how do you know if a compound word uses a hyphen or not? Well, many compound nouns and verbs are listed in dictionaries-like ours! If you are unsure if a noun or verb uses a hyphen, you can look it up.Ĭompound adjectives are tougher. grandfather, classroom, beachfront, phone book, head coach, police officer.However, not all compound words use hyphens. sold-out, slow-moving, happy-go-lucky, twenty-four, great-uncle.Many compound words are formed using hyphens.
In general, there are two common uses for a hyphen.
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