Hyphens+in+Word

Hyphens in Word Hyphens are a notoriously tricky punctuation mark. English is a fairly inconsistent language and the student is not helped by the constant trend of evolution of the rules. To ensure absolute correctness when using hyphens, keep a good dictionary nearby, for knowing when to hyphenate compound words is not a definite science.

Compound words are two or more individual words that have a different or enhanced meaning when combined. For instance, “bumble” can mean to drop or fumble something, “bee” can be either an insect or a gathering, but a “bumblebee” is a distinct word used for a specific flying insect. Compound words are written either as one word, two words, or two words connected by a hyphen. Therein lays the complications, as no one seems able to properly define when to hyphenate compound words at all.

A common rule in determining whether a compound word should be one word or two is how the word is used in context. Phrases that have a verb/noun or verb/adjective combination should be two words if the combined term is a verb and one word if the compound word is a noun or description. For instance, “my car will never break down” uses “break” as a verb, whereas “Michael had a breakdown” uses “break” as part of a noun. This is useful in determining the difference between one and two word compound phrases, but does not really help us with whether to hyphenate compound words or not. If you cannot find the word, it is best to hyphenate it, as it is clearly not in common usage. Do not panic when worrying about whether to hyphenate compound words. The rules are so uncertain that it is rare to be docked grammatical points on essays or tests for incorrect hyphenation.