Fun Easy English - new american english grammar topic hyphen.

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Home - Grammar - Hyphen

Hyphen

Hyphen

In this lesson you will learn the definition of a hyphen and study examples of hyphens.

Hyphen Definition

A hyphen looks like this:

A hyphen is:
used both to join words and to separate syllables
often confused with a dash, which is longer
used as a multiple-word modifier, as in blood-red moon
used to denote syllabification, as syl-lab-i-fi-ca-tion
Nouns formed of a noun and an adjective are frequently hyphenated, as death-wish
names for numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine have hyphens
if a word is split onto two lines, a hyphen will usually be inserted immediately before the split

Hyphen Examples

Examples where meaning is changed due to the placement of hyphens
disease-causing poor nutrition meaning poor nutrition that causes disease
disease causing poor nutrition meaning a disease that causes poor nutrition
a man-eating shark is a shark that eats humans
a man eating shark is a man who is eating shark meat
a blue green sea is a contradiction
a blue-green sea is a sea whose color is somewhere between blue and green
three-hundred-year-old trees are trees that are 300 years old.
three hundred-year-old trees are three trees that are 100 years old.
Additional examples of proper use
text-only document or the document is text-only
Detroit-based organization or the organization is Detroit-based
board-certified strategy or the strategy is board-certified
thought-provoking argument or the argument is thought-provoking
time-sensitive error or the error is time-sensitive
case-sensitive password or the password is case-sensitive
light-gathering surface or the surface is light-gathering
award-winning novel or the novel is award-winning (but, more likely, …won an award with no hyphen)
web-based encyclopedia or the encyclopedia is web-based
fun-loving person or the person is fun-loving
how to wire-transfer funds

Grammar Tips

Can You Catch These Native Speaker Mistakes?
(Beginner - Listening)

An audio lesson to help with your understanding of common mistakes. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.

Commonly Confused Words: Part One
(Beginner - Listening, reading)

A video lesson to help with your understanding of commonly confused words.
The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page.

Commonly Confused Words: Part One
(Beginner - Listening)

An audio lesson to help with your understanding of commonly confused words. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.

Commonly Confused Words: Part Two
(Beginner - Listening, reading)

A video lesson to help with your understanding of commonly confused words.
The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page.

Commonly Confused Words: Part Two
(Beginner - Listening)

An audio lesson to help with your understanding of commonly confused words. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.

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