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I am trying to make spelling uniform in a technical book. The book is mostly written following American conventions (say, center instead of centre, authorize instead of authorise). Should I write nonzero, nonempty, noncommutative or non-zero, non-empty, non-commutative?

Andrea Ferretti
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  • Does your publisher prescribe or recommend a particular style guide? That's where I'd start. :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Mar 11 '20 at 04:25
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    My intuition says to hyphenate non-empty but not the others, perhaps because empty is a native English word and non is Latinate. – Anton Sherwood Mar 14 '20 at 19:48
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    If you have no idea then "non-" is generally safer. If you think that the dash should be omitted first check if it's found in a dictionary. ("Nonzero" is a common dictionary word. "Nonempty" is found in some dictionaries but not others.) – Hot Licks Mar 21 '20 at 01:36

2 Answers2

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In technical writing, I prefer using "non-zero" or "non zero" as I believe it brings more clarity when reading analytical or mathematical topics.

Some other rules -

when last letter of prefix is identical to the first letter of the following word: anti-intellectual non-negative semi-independent

when there is otherwise a repeating sequence of letters that is confusing or ugly: non-ionizing non-oscillatory photo-ionization re-reading For example, "nonoscillatory" looks like "no no scillatory" when read quickly.

when the prefix or suffix is added to a name, symbol, or number: non-Newtonian physics Cd-free solder pre-1970 designs mid-1970s

Reference: phys.uconn.edu/~eyler/phys258/W/tw.htm

Dipu Ray
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Find a style guide

I suggest you find a style guide, follow it and/or adapt it for your purposes, listing all your decisions, so you can refer to it and be consistent while editing.

If it is ‘mostly written’ using American conventions, it might be better to ‘follow American conventions’ instead of ‘trying’.

A popular guide is the ‘Chicago’ style guide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_guide

Related question - ‘when to choose British or American English’:

How to choose between British and American English for technical documents

Jelila
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