When numbers are used as the first part of a compound adjective, use a hyphen to connect them to the noun that follows them. This way, the reader knows that both words function like a unit to modify another noun.
This applies whether the number is written in words or in digits. The president of the company gave a minute speech to the Board of Directors. He is knowledgeable in thirteenth-century politics. The boy threw a rock at the second-story window. He is a victim of Type 2 diabetes.
When using a fraction e. I half-wanted to commit a felony. A quarter-million dollars is still a large amount of money. Lying on the floor beside the plant he had knocked over and chewed on, the cat looked extremely self-satisfied. Do you want a self-serve or a full-serve gas station? The self serves no other.
Low-flying airplanes contribute to the noise pollution in the area. This car runs best on high-octane gasoline. Rule 2b. When writing out new, original, or unusual compound nouns, writers should hyphenate whenever doing so avoids confusion.
Examples: I changed my diet and became a no-meater. No-meater is too confusing without the hyphen. The slacker was a video gamer. Video gamer is clear without a hyphen, although some writers might prefer to hyphenate it. Writers using familiar compound verbs and nouns should consult a dictionary or look online to decide if these verbs and nouns should be hyphenated.
Rule 3. An often overlooked rule for hyphens: The adverb very and adverbs ending in ly are not hyphenated. Incorrect: the very-elegant watch Incorrect: the finely-tuned watch.
This rule applies only to adverbs. The following two examples are correct because the ly words are not adverbs:. Correct: the friendly-looking dog Correct: a family-owned cafe. Rule 4. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things. A handy rule, whether writing about years, months, or any other period of time, is to use hyphens unless the period of time years, months, weeks, days is written in plural form:.
With hyphens: We have a two-year-old child. We have a two-year-old. No hyphens: The child is two years old. Because years is plural. Exception: The child is one year old. Or day, week, month , etc. Note that when hyphens are involved in expressing ages, two hyphens are required. Many writers forget the second hyphen:. Rule 5. Never hesitate to add a hyphen if it solves a possible problem. Following are two examples of well-advised hyphens:. Confusing: Springfield has little town charm.
With hyphen: Springfield has little-town charm. Without the hyphen, the sentence seems to say that Springfield is a dreary place. With the hyphen, little-town becomes a compound adjective, making the writer's intention clear: Springfield is a charming small town. Confusing: She had a concealed weapons permit. With hyphen: She had a concealed-weapons permit.
With no hyphen, we can only guess: Was the weapons permit hidden from sight, or was it a permit for concealed weapons? The hyphen makes concealed-weapons a compound adjective, so the reader knows that the writer meant a permit for concealed weapons. Rule 6. When using numbers, hyphenate spans or estimates of time, distance, or other quantities. Remember not to use spaces around hyphens. Examples: p. Note: Most publishers use the slightly longer en dash instead of a hyphen in this situation.
Examples: — p. Some permanent compounds of this type are closed: bookkeeping, copyediting, caregiving. Compound nouns formed by either a noun and a numeral, or a noun and a single letter, do not require a hyphen, regardless of whether they are being used as nouns or adjectivally: type A, type A executive, type 2 diabetes, size 11 shoes, a page one headline.
Authors writing in technical fields may encounter some exceptions to this rule, with some compound nouns inclusive of numerals or single letters having become hyphenated in those fields by convention. Please always defer to the preferences of the style guide or dictionary most appropriate for the situation in which you write. Compound nouns comprised of a noun and a participle in any order must be hyphenated when being used as an adjective: a garden-filled city, cutting-edge methods.
Otherwise, no hyphens are needed. The garden-filled city of Toowoomba attracts many tourists. The many garden tours mean your days will be garden filled. Rules for the hyphenation of noun phrases vary greatly. Check your relevant style guide or dictionary: stick-in-the-mud, jack-of-all-trades, a flash in the pan.
When two or more compound modifiers have a common base, this base is sometimes omitted in all except the last modifier, but the hyphens are retained. When do you need to use a hyphen for compound words? General Principle 1 If a compound adjective can be misread, use a hyphen.
General Principle 2 In a temporary compound that is used as an adjective before a noun, use a hyphen if the term can be misread or if the term expresses a single thought i.
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