Hyphen usage.

scorza · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:25

Can anyone tell me what the correct rules for the use of hyphens are?

If I have a microphone and I mute it, do I then unmute it or un-mute it?

If water freezes is it because the temperature is sub-zero or subzero?

How do I know when to use a hyphen and when not to?

mks2005 · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:27

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen

Chasser · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:28

http://www.englishforums.com/English/RulesForUsingHyphens/gqxx/Post.htm

This is very informative. Hope it helps (although it's possibly US biased).

Gilly · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:30

It really depends on the word in question. If you've compound words you wish to connect to be read as one, then you hyphenate them, merry-go-round is one such example.

Discretionary hyphens are then used when words wrap aro-
und onto the next line.

Beansprout · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:33

There's no hypen in around :confused:

You use hypens whenever you feel they're appropriate to remove ambiguity in strings of words; some words which perhaps should be hyphenated (ie sub-zero) now aren't because they're falling into common usage, so seeing them without hyphens is perfectly intelligible.

Buy 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' - fantastic grammar book, very light-hearted and a fantastic read

scorza · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:35

Cheers. Think I know what I have to do now. Why is this stuff so complicated?

Kol · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:35

Beansprout said:
There's no hypen in around

No, but Gilly is using the example when the word doesn't fit on a line, in terms of hand writing or similar, you have started to write the word, so hyphen and continue on the next line

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a BRILLIANT book

As is the parody, Eats, ***** and Leaves

Parody or not you can't swear. FF.
edit - sorry FF ... my mind wasn't synched with my fingers

Gilly · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:36

Beansprout said:
There's no hypen in around

WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

Scott Salisbury · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:36

Beansprout said:
There's no hypen in around

No, he means like in books, when a longish word hits the end of the page, the hyphen is used to continue the world on the next line.

He just used 'around' as his example of a word being wrapped.

AdWright · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:39

The easiest way to remember the rule for adjective noun compounds is to read it in different ways:

For instance, is it:

cold hearted person

or

cold-hearted person?

Okay, so if you don't know, you can say to yourself:

Is it a 'hearted person' that is 'cold' or is it a 'cold-hearted' 'person'?
In this case, the hyphen is needed as the words 'cold' and 'hearted' are compounded together.

sjt269 · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:50

While everything that's been said so far is correct, I notice that no one (or should that be no-one, or even no one?

) has answered the 'unmute or un-mute' and 'subzero or 'sub-zero' questions yet.

Kol · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:53

tTz said:
While everything that's been said so far is correct, I notice that no one (or should that be no-one, or even no one? ) has answered the 'unmute or un-mute' and 'subzero or 'sub-zero' questions yet.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7400549&postcount=5

Looks like an attempt to answer it to me?

St0rmer66 · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:53

tTz said:
While everything that's been said so far is correct, I notice that no one (or should that be no-one, or even no one? ) has answered the 'unmute or un-mute' and 'subzero or 'sub-zero' questions yet.

Beansprout answered the subzero one, actually.

sjt269 · 5 Jul 2006 at 20:56

Oops.

Why should it be hyphenated then? I noticed that he did say 'perhaps should be hyphenated', and not 'definitely should be hyphenated', so what's the reason behind that thinking?

Kol · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:03

tTz said:
Oops.

Why should it be hyphenated then? I noticed that he did say 'perhaps should be hyphenated', and not 'definitely should be hyphenated', so what's the reason behind that thinking?

No idea mate, I'm having a read of the links, see if I can answer it

scorza · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:05

tTz said:
Oops.

Why should it be hyphenated then? I noticed that he did say 'perhaps should be hyphenated', and not 'definitely should be hyphenated', so what's the reason behind that thinking?

From what I've learnt, sub-zero is hyphenated because "sub" has three letters, unmute isn't hyphenated because "un" has only two letters. As random as that

St0rmer66 · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:06

tTz said:
Oops.

Why should it be hyphenated then? I noticed that he did say 'perhaps should be hyphenated', and not 'definitely should be hyphenated', so what's the reason behind that thinking?

Are you even reading his post?

Beansprout said:
some words which perhaps should be hyphenated (ie sub-zero) now aren't because they're falling into common usage, so seeing them without hyphens is perfectly intelligible.

It's just like you don't need to put "On-line", you just put "online" nowadays (unlike someone who posted the "On-Line clothes" thread).

me227 · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:44

Beansprout said:
There's no hypen in around

Gilly said:
WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
OOOOOOOOSSSSSHHH

Gilly · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:45

me227 said:
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
OOOOOOOOSSSSSHHH

sjt269 · 5 Jul 2006 at 21:53

St0rmer66 said:
Are you even reading his post?

It's just like you don't need to put "On-line", you just put "online" nowadays (unlike someone who posted the "On-Line clothes" thread).

Are you even reading my post?

I'm asking why does he think that 'sub-zero' should have a hyphen in the first place, not why it's acceptable to skip the hyphen. As far as I can see, he simmply states 'it perhaps should be hyphenated' rather than 'it definitely should be hyphenated because...', and I'm curious to why he thinks it should be hyphenated in the first place.