Hyphens The hyphen’s main purpose is to glue words together. They notify the reader that two or more elements in a sentence are linked. Although there are rules and customs governing hyphens, there are also situations when writers must decide whether to add them for clarity.

Rule 1 Generally, hyphenate two or more words when they come before a noun they modify and act as a single idea. This is called a compound Adjective. Example: State-of-the-art technology. We live in an off-campus apartment.

Rule 2 A hyphen is frequently required when forming original compound verbs for vivid writing, humor, or special situations. Example: The man video-gamed his way through life. Mr. Swain English-taught most days.

Rule 3 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 is written in plural form. Example: I have a two-year-old nephew. My nephew is two years old.

Rule 4 Use a hyphen to solve a possible problem. Example: Confusing: I have a few more important things to do. Clear: I have a few more-important things to do. Without the hyphen, it’s impossible to tell whether the sentence is about a few things that are more important, or a few more things that are all equally important.

Rule 5 When using numbers, hyphenate spans of time, distance, or other quantities. Example: 3:15-3:45 p.m. 2015-2016 300-350 people

Rule 6 Hyphenate all compound numbers when you write them out from twenty-one through ninety-nine. Example: Seventy-eight kittens Twenty-nine cents an hour.

Rule 7 Hyphenate all spelled-out fractions. Example: No more than seventeen-thirty-eights. She’s only five-sixths crazy.

Rule 8 Hyphenate most double last names. Example: Lady Sansa Stark-Bolton won’t make it past season six.

Rule 9 Hyphenate prefixes when they come before proper nouns or proper adjectives. Example: The party is going to be mid-July. One Direction is going on a trans-American tour.

Rule 10 Hyphenate prefixes that end with a vowel that hyphenated word begins with. Example: Ultra-ambitious Semi-invalid Re-elect

Rule 11 Hyphenate all words that begin with the prefix Self, Ex, and All. Example: Self-esteem Ex-associate All-knowing

Rule 12 Suffixes are not usually hyphenate with some exceptions: Style, elect, free, and based. Example: Modernist-style paintings President-elect… Sugar-free candy Oil-based lotions