English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [hyphens]

For questions about when and whether to use a hyphen (-) to join two words or two syllables of a single word together.

178 questions
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When do we add a hyphen (-) to a complex adjective word?

When do we add a hyphen (-) to a complex adjective word? Here are a few examples: This is an Xbox-compatible game. This is a Creation-Kit-compatible 3d asset. This is a SkyRe-compatible Skyrim mod. More often than not all these examples are used…
Sayaman
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Should I always use a hyphen to make clear what an attributive describes?

When I write "I heard his deep warm voice filling the room." it's clear that both deep and warm are attributives for voice. When I write "The 32-bit Pentium had a 64-bit data bus." I use the hyphen between 32 and bit, to make evident that 32 is an…
apaderno
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Is the use of "9-sibling" and "13-year" in the sentence below correct?

...has been a realtor for 13-year and decided, at a young age, that he wanted to make selling real estate a career. Being raised in a large family of 9-siblings
Megs
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Should "long-lasting" be hyphenated after a noun?

I understand that when "long-lasting" is used as a compound adjective before a noun, it is always hyphenated, as in example 1: A long-lasting transformation. However, I would like to know if a hyphen is needed when it is used after a verb as in…
user167211
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1 answer

Is "forty-five year-old" correct?

Forty-five year-old Korean-American Kenneth Bae was arrested in 2012. I think the hyphen is wrong. It should be "Forty-five-year-old" or "45-year-old". So I wonder how to use the hyphen.
user48070
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Hyphen vs. En Dash vs. Em Dash to split a clause

Which one should I use to split a clause like in the example below? Go to Preferences > Settings – Syntax Specific. The screenshot above shows Sublime Text menu. I'm sure they did not use the hyphen. I've gone through the…
isar
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Do I need a hyphen in "1000-L bioreactor"? Hyphens with abbreviated units of measure

The cultivation was performed in a 1000-L bioreactor. The cultivation was performed in a 1000 L bioreactor. Which is better? I find conflicting examples online. On Grammar Book I found this: According to The Chicago Manual of Style, hyphens…
CowperKettle
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How many hyphens do I need when I add '-based' to a noun phrase?

Markov chain-based or Markov-chain-based? The full sentence: It resembles black-hat SEO and its Markov chain-based keyword stuffing techniques. What is the rule?
thorn
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Should I use a hyphen in this sentence?

I have an information technology terminology which is "rule". each rule consists of a premise, which is the part before the equal sign, and a conclusion, which is the part after the equal sign. Example: If temperature is low then the weather is…
Marco Dinatsoli
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What does the hyphen ("-") here mean?

Today, when reading Lannquist,2020, p.7, I saw the second hyphen "-" but I do not understand what the author wants to imply. “smart‑contract”‑driven wholesale CBDC applications (e.g. “atomic swaps and securities transactions”). So, in this case,…
Phil Nguyen
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How should an „anti-human trafficking operation“ be hyphenated?

How should an „anti-human trafficking operation“ be hyphenated? I recently saw this expression in a newspaper article, with a hyphen between „anti“ and „human“. It took me some time to figure out that it meant an operation against trafficking of…
wra
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"within c hops" or "within c-hops"

I am writing a paper. In the paper, I originally wrote all vertices that are within c hops of a vertex v but my teacher later changed it to all vertices that are within c-hops of a vertex v Here, the letter "c" represents a fixed constant. I…
Gedt
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"Session-based" or "session based"

I have such sentence "Create a session based authentication", and I think that correct way to spell it, is like this: "Create a session-based authentication". Am I right? I have followed answer for this question as a rule: correct use of hyphens to…
Gino Pane
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The use of hyphenation

We say A 300-meter high tower. A 25-year-old male. In the first sentence, we didn't hyphenate the noun meter with the adjective high. Yet, in the second sentence, we do hyphenate them. Why is that? Is there a rule to this?
Ghaith Alrestom
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Hyphenation of "trial and error"

Students learn by trial and error. Students learn by trial-and-error. Should "trial and error" be hyphenated or not in the above sentence? What is the rule here? I have seen both usages.
user167764
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