1. UWF Writing Laboratory Mini-Lesson #67 51/158 474-2029
Hyphens!
UWF Writing Laboratory
Mini-Lesson #67
51/

2. I am giving you a sign up sheet to distribute so that students interested in attending the play can sign up and reserve a seat.
Which two words in the above sentence should be combined with a hyphen?

3. I am giving you a sign up sheet to distribute so that students interested in attending the play can sign up and reserve a seat.
Which two words in the above sentence should be combined with a hyphen?
RIGHT!
“sign” and “up”
Without the hyphen, the reader may be momentarily derailed. The sentence seems to read as follows:
I am giving you a sign….

4. The hyphen is most commonly used to separate a word that is divided by the right hand margin, but a hyphen also has the following conventional uses:
To separate the parts of a compound modifier or multiword adjective when the modifier/ adjective precedes the word that it modifies (e.g. “When he is out of town, he uses out-of-town checks.”);
To separate compounds of equal weight (e.g. male-female relationships);

5. 3. To set off prefixes of words beginning with the prefixes well-, all-, self-, and ex- (e.g. “all-purpose,” “ex-wife,” “well-
informed,” and “self-centered”);
4. To set off some compound nouns (e.g. “mother-in-law”) or to set off prefixes before a proper noun or adjective (e.g. “all-American”);
5. To separate numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions such as two-thirds.

6. Exceptions
Do not hyphenate words that begin with the prefixes pre-, un-, re-, inter-, non-, multi-, bi-, semi-, up-, over-, and intra (e.g. “preschool,” “rearrange,” “overworked,” “intercollegiate,” “multicultural,” “bipartisan,” nonviolent, bipartisan, and “semisweet”).
Occasionally, hyphens are used to avoid confusion (e.g. “re-solve” instead of “resolve”).
Consult a dictionary when you’re in doubt.

7. Practice!
Air traffic was so dense that afternoon that air traffic control could hardly cope.
Air traffic was so dense that afternoon that
air-traffic control could hardly cope.
Nancy’s exhusband is an antifeminist.
Nancy’s ex-husband is an antifeminist.
My mother in law works for a quasi official corporation that does two thirds of its business with the government.
My mother-in-law works for a quasi-official corporation that does two-thirds of its business with the government.

8. Remember to differentiate between a hyphen and a dash.
HYPHEN (to separate words) -
DASH (to separate sentences) --