The Hyphen (-)

● Use a hyphen with compound numbers:

twenty-eight, thirty-seven, fifty-one, seventy-three

● Use a hyphen for compound words when your dictionary indicates the hyphen is necessary for correct spelling:

daughter-in-law, hide-and-seek, man-of-war

● Hyphenate compound modifiers before a noun.

after-school activities, fast-growing business

● Do not hyphenate compound modifiers that follow a noun.

activities after school

● Do not hyphenate compound modifiers that are made up of an adverb ending in –ly and an adjective.

rapidly growing business

● Hyphenate compounds made up of prefixes and proper nouns.

un-American, anti-American, pro-American

● Hyphenate compounds beginning with ex- or self-.

ex-husband, self-motivated

● Use a hyphen to divide a word at the end of a typed or written line. Use the following guidelines:

a) Divide only at syllable boundaries (break words only between syllables):

iden-tify, infor-mation, go-ing, height-en

Break words with prefixes or suffixes between the root and the prefix or suffix.

re-vision, dis-satisfied, honor-able, ego-ism, pre-tend-er

b) Do not divide a one-syllable word.

c) Do not divide a contraction.

d) Do not divide numbers written in numerical terms:

7,500,000

Exercise 9. Divide the words below as you would at the end of a line.

1. growing	11. proper
2. shop	12. skilful
3. rewind	13. trustworthy
4. disappear	14. doesn’t
5. broaden	15. 13,600,301
6. haven’t	16. Friday
7. mare	17. better
8. eighty	18. diver
9. hedgehog	19. university
10. peculiar	20. promotion

Dashes (―)

● Use dashes to indicate an abrupt or sudden interruption of your idea.

His anger ― or was it his fear ― caused him to speak rudely.

● Use dashes to set off an appositive.

The scholarship ― one of only three offered by the university ― was awarded to Hassan.

● Dashes are used to set off or introduce a list of parallel items.

After a week in Glitter Gulch, I began to exhibit symptoms of physical deprivation – nervous tension, disorientation, insomnia, loss of appetite – which seemed inappropriate in a town geared exclusively to self-indulgence.

● The dash can be used to punctuate a major sentence element that begins by repeating and defining some earlier word in the sentence. In these sentences the material set off by the dash is usually longer than the base sentence preceding it.

She had a slender, small body but a large heart – a heart so large that everybody’s joys found welcome in it and hospitable accommodation.

● Dashes are often used to insert – and set off – a full sentence within a sentence. Generally such sentences contain commentary or explanation.

Scott did not stop talking and since I was embarrassed by what he said – it was all about my writing and how great it was – I kept on looking at him closely and noticed instead of listening.

● Do not overuse dashes. Generally, a comma is just as effective.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14