Hyphens, Dashes and When to Hyphenate

The Hyphen

The hyphen is a punctuation mark which is used to join together two words, often in order to form a compound noun, adjective or verb, or to separate one word into multiple parts. It looks like this:

‘- ’

The hyphen is not to be confused with the dash, which is slightly longer and used in different contexts. The hyphen should not be preceded or followed by a space and is used in a sentence like this:

‘Jonathan was extremely well-read and achieved a first-class degree’.

There is such a thing as a suspended or hanging hyphen, where, if two hyphenated words are used in list form, the first hyphen can be left ‘hanging’ without its adjoining word. This is an example:

‘Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century portraiture marked a departure in style…’

The hyphen is also used in newspapers, magazine articles and some books in cases where the final word of the sentence has been cut short by the edge of the column or page. In such cases it would be used like this:

‘The Prime Minister has stated his intention to reform plan-

ning permission laws…’.

The Dash

Dashes can be used much like brackets are to delineate a separate but related part of the sentence. They are used in pairs in sentences like this:

‘The Etruscans- although they left behind many archaeological artefacts- remain a largely mysterious civilisation.’

The dash should directly follow the preceding word with no space and then be followed by a space.

Quite often, grammatical rules about usage of the dash are ignored in informal writing. They are used in emails, notes and letters to indicate a new thought, an aside or any multitude of other things. Although in an informal context it is usually easy to decipher the meaning of a dash, in academic writing it is wise to stick religiously to the rules which apply.

Overuse of the dash can also be conspicuous, so consider using other punctuation marks which might fit your purpose, such as the semicolon, colon or comma.

When To Hyphenate

The act of using a hyphen is known as ‘hyphenation’. It involves joining two separate words together to form one single noun, verb, or adjective, known as a compound. Some examples would be: hand-made, well-known, record-breaking and part-time. When hyphenated, a holiday of two weeks becomes a ‘two-week’ holiday.

Quite often words which begin with the prefix ‘pre’, ‘non’ or ‘re’ are hyphenated.

Hyphenation of compound verbs and nouns is becoming less common and is sometimes considered archaic. There are some words which require a hyphen and would be incorrect without one, but there are also some compound words which no longer include a hyphen in common usage. The words ‘refresh’, ‘delineate’ and ‘precede’ are examples of this dying away of the hyphen.

In some cases, hyphenation can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Take, for example:

1)      I came across a man eating grizzly bear

2)      I came across a man-eating grizzly bear

The first sentence describes the actions of a man who was eating grizzly bear. The second, hyphenated, sentence makes it clear that the grizzly bear was ‘man-eating’. Here, the two words ‘man’ and ‘eating’ have been combined to form a single adjective.

Be sure to check your relevant style guide for a list of words which should and shouldn’t be hyphenated, as this can vary between institutions.

If you are still having trouble with hyphenation, compound words or how to use dashes, the professionals at Proofread My Essay can help you today!