October 3, 2022

The hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that is used in several different ways. In this article, I’ll discuss when it’s appropriate to use a hyphen and how to use it correctly.

Although hyphens are one of the most basic elements of written English grammar, they are often misused. This can cause confusion for readers and reflect poorly on the writer. To avoid making these mistakes, it’s important to understand when hyphens should be used when writing English.

In my experience of reading things written by people who have English as a second language, the hyphen is one the most misused punctuation marks—they are either used when they aren’t needed or are they are not used when they are needed. I see both mistakes equally as often.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Hyphens can be tricky—even for native speakers. Still, the proper use of hyphens is an example of getting the details just right. Trust me when I say there are many people out there will notice both correct and incorrect hyphen usage.

Use a Hyphen to Join Words Together

The most common use of the hyphen is to join words together. This is done in order to create compound words. For example, the words “self” and “respect” can be joined together to form the compound word “self-respect.” Another example would be the word “mother-in-law.” Here, the hyphen is used to join the words “mother” and “in-law” together to form one word.

The hyphen can also be used to join certain prefixes and suffixes to words. For example, the prefix “ex-” can be added to the word “president” to form the word “ex-president.”

Use a Hyphen For Compound Adjectives

Compound adjectives are two or more words that work together to describe a noun. For example, “The red-hot chili peppers were too spicy for me.” In this sentence, “red-hot” is a compound adjective that is describing the chili peppers.

Don’t Use a Hyphen After an Adverb Ending in “-ly”

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They usually (but not always) end in “-ly.” For example, “He drives slowly down the street.” In this sentence, “slowly” is an adverb that is modifying the verb “drives.” You would never write, “He drives slow-ly down the street.” That just looks and feels wrong.

Use a Hyphen When Using a Noun and a Participle as an Adjective

Compound nouns can sometimes consist of a noun and a participle (the order does not matter) and used in the same way as an adjective. An example I see often on business websites is “cutting-edge.”

In the sentence, “We offer cutting-edge solutions,” “cutting-edge” is a compound noun that is made up of the noun “edge” and the participle “cutting.” I most often see “cutting edge” used, which is incorrect. Not including a hyphen changes the meaning of the sentence.

Conclusion

Hyphens can be tricky to master, but with a little practice you’ll be using them like a pro in no time! Now that you know some of the most common uses for hyphens in English writing, you can avoid making mistakes and improving your writing overall!

Proper hyphen usage is one of the many things that I look for when I work with clients. As I said at the beginning of the article, hyphen usage is one of the most common mistakes I see when reviewing text written by someone who has English as a second language.

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