![]() Make sure you don’t put a hyphen between the final word of the adjective and the noun it modifies. If three or more words combine to create a single adjective, hyphenate them. He skittered away, his too-big-for-a-clown shoes flapping against the concrete. Kyra gave me one of her patented I’m-going-to-pay-you-back-later glares. While you could use italics for an especially long compound adjective, hyphens can do the job much of the time. In fiction we often string together words to create unusual and one-off adjectives to be used before a noun. Yet don’t forget that checking the dictionary first may be a quicker path to your answer. The many examples should help with most of the situations you’ll encounter when deciding how to spell compound words. I admit that I check this section in CMOS again and again when I edit. If you don’t have a copy of the current CMOS, I highly recommend that you bookmark or print this guide. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), however, has made our compounding task much easier by laying out categories and showing us rules for hyphenation.Įven better, the CMOS folks have put their handy chart online so that everyone can access it. Or rewrite.īut other rules are more specific, and they can be tricky. The most general rule is that you hyphenate for clarity. If not hyphenating a compound causes confusion-perhaps creates a phrase that could be read multiple ways-hyphenate. So how do you determine when compound adjectives should be hyphenated? There are rules. After the noun, there’s usually less chance of a reader reading in the wrong meaning. ![]() The words are joined with a hyphen before the noun to ensure there’s no confusion about the meaning. Good and looking aren’t separate adjectives used to describe doctor good-looking is the single modifier. Our doctor isn’t a looking doctor, and she may not be a good doctor. In this sentence Timothy’s age is a compound serving as an adjective for boy.Īnother normal sentence. There’s no unusual punctuation or spelling here it’s very straightforward. Our job is to decide about the use of hyphens with such words. Often these are adjectives or nouns that we create as we write or those that are hyphenated in some situations but not in others. The temporary compounds are often the most difficult to deal with. On the other hand, it might be a temporarily hyphenated compound. If you can’t find a word in your go-to dictionary, perhaps you spelled it wrong. Keep the file open on your computer for easy access. If you find yourself looking up the same words for yourself or your clients, include those words on your style sheet. If you’re in doubt, pull out that dictionary.Ĭonsider creating a general style sheet or spelling list not related to any particular book or project. Editors, don’t assume that writers have had the opportunity to look up every word. ![]() Writers, don’t count on your editor to look up every word, especially if your subject matter is unusual or if you make up a lot of words. ![]() And that’s advice for both writers and editors. If you have any doubt about the spelling of a compound, look it up. It changed from an open compound- Web site-to its current closed form. Another fast-changing compound was website. For example, email moved very quickly from a hyphenated compound- e-mail-to the current closed form. While spelling changes usually take time, some words do change quickly, typically as a function of their use. Words may begin as open compounds and over time evolve into hyphenated compounds and then to closed compounds. There are compounds nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Words that are always hyphenated would be found in a dictionary.Ī compound word is simply two or more words joined to create a new word with a meaning different from any of the individual words. So just because you don’t find the hyphenated word in a dictionary, that doesn’t mean that you don’t hyphenate it. The problem here is that hyphenated words can be temporary spellings, hyphenated for the needs of a moment but not for every use. While it’s easy to determine whether closed and open compounds are spelled correctly-simply look them up in a current dictionary-the task is a bit harder when you’re faced with hyphenated compounds. The right spellings can make manuscripts look good and help convey the correct meanings of our phrases.Ĭompound words can be open (separate words with spaces between them), closed (a single word, no spaces or hyphens), or hyphenated. The spelling of compound words is one of those not-so-sexy but majorly useful topics that writers should have a handle on. Augby Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified August 15, 2015
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