5 Examples of the Need for Multiple Hyphenation

5 Examples of the Need for Multiple Hyphenation 5 Examples of the Need for Multiple Hyphenation 5 Examples of the Need for Multiple Hyphenation By Mark Nichol Complex and compound phrasal adjectives, in which more than two words unite to modify a noun that follows the phrase, pose a challenge for many writers. How many hyphens are required, and where do they go? These examples demonstrate the proper application of hyphens in such cases. 1. â€Å"He broke the 21-year old world record at the tournament.† Hyphenation errors frequently occur in references to age or duration. In this case, the reference seems to be to an old record of a 21-year nature, but it can mean only that a record that has stood for 21 years has been broken. The record is 21 years old, so those three terms should be hyphenated together: â€Å"He broke the 21-year-old world record at the tournament.† (Or, if the number is spelled out, â€Å"He broke the twenty-one-year-old world record at the tournament.†) 2. â€Å"The project exemplifies his wheeling and dealing ways.† The ways described involve wheeling and dealing. Because the two verbs are often used in tandem as an idiom referring to underhanded negotiations, they and the intervening conjunction should all be linked: â€Å"The project exemplifies his wheeling-and-dealing ways.† 3. â€Å"They’re taking a wait and see approach.† As with â€Å"wheeling and dealing,† â€Å"wait and see† is an idiom; it means that observers will refrain from interference or deliberation until a catalyzing event occurs. All the words in the phrase should be hyphenated together: â€Å"They’re taking a wait-and-see approach.† 4. â€Å"He sustained non-life threatening injuries in the accident.† As styled, the central phrase seems to refer to threatening injuries not associated with life. But the reference applies to injuries that are not threatening to life. Although non would normally be attached directly to a root word (for example, in nonprofit), in this case, because it is associated with the entire phrase â€Å"life-threatening injuries,† it is correctly attached to life with a hyphen. But life-threatening is a stock phrasal adjective, and a hyphen should connect those two terms here as well: â€Å"He sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the accident.† 5. â€Å"The soldiers were injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.† This sentence implies that the soldiers were injured in a grenade attack that was rocket propelled meaning that enemy troops themselves were propelled by rockets as they threw grenades. But the weapons were rocket-propelled grenades. Because this phrase modifies attack, grenade is attached to rocket-propelled: â€Å"The soldiers were injured in a rocket-propelled-grenade attack.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and NumeralsAcronym vs. InitialismRunning Errands and Doing Chores

Media language accelerates recovery - Emphasis

Media language accelerates recovery Media language accelerates recovery The increasing use of the word recovery in the press during the recent financial crisis may have contributed to the UKs eventual climb out of recession, new research from Emphasis has found. This unique project the second from the Emphasis Research Centre began as a positive alternative to The Economists R-word index, which predicts economic downturns by tracking the use of the word recession. The research charts the use of the term recovery (along with green shoots) in the British broadsheets during the recent recession and the months leading up to it. It reveals what appears to be a significant link between the number of press articles mentioning the word and climbs in both the FTSE 100 and Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index. The sudden increase in the use of recovery actually began long before any real sign of one existed. In fact, the UK was sliding further into recession and the markets were in freefall at the time. But the continued and ever-increasing reference to a tentative recovery may have helped precipitate a slight return to form, as both indexes began to rise slowly in February 2009. Other factors undeniably played a part in renewed faith in the markets. The stimulus package announced in November 2008, the start of quantitative easing the following March, and the G20 summit in April 2009 are all likely to have influenced confidence. And mentions of recovery, though regular, were often far from positive. Yet the apparent link between the rise in newspapers references to recovery and the fluctuations in both the FTSE 100 and Consumer Confidence Index during the most intense periods of the economic crisis seem significant. It could be that merely repeating the word recovery, like a mantra, somehow seeped into the subconscious of both the public and the market, says Rob Ashton, Chief Executive of Emphasis. This may be an example of journalists creating the news as well as reporting it. Download the full Recovery Watch research report here. Download the press release here.