H is for Hydro Towers

Hydro towers march through the landscape near Ottawa, Canada.

H is for hyphens

Hyphens (-) are little dashes that have many uses.

Hyphens in compound words

Compound words may be hyphenated (or they may be closed up together or they may be left as two separate words). Look in the dictionary for help.

Hyphenated compound words and phrases

horse-trade, hot-wire, house-sit

Jack-of-all-trades

Closed compound words

hereinafter, hothouse, household

Open compound words

high school, hydro line, phone booth

Hyphens in confusing words

Use a hyphen to help the reader understand the sense of the word in context.

re-creation (as opposed to recreation)

co-op (as opposed to coop)

eight-part sets (as opposed to eight partial sets)

Hyphens between descriptors before a noun

Use a hyphen between the following:

two  or more adjectives before a noun

high-class home, third-floor bachelor

an adjective and a participle

hard-hitting handball game

an adverb and an adjective or participle

much-heated stew

Exception

Never use a hyphen after a word ending in —ly.  

hardly heard hymn

a noun plus a participle

hand-held device

a noun plus an adjective before a noun

cheese-free hamburger

age terms

three-year-old cheese

Note

Do not use a hyphen if the descriptors come after the noun.

The home was high class.

The game was hard hitting.

The cheese was three years old.

Hyphens mark words split between two lines of type.

Heavenly hash is the kind of meal that many want to avoid eating because left-

overs are not appetizing.

Exercises

1. Pick up a newspaper. Find some hyphenated words and figure out what parts of speech are in the phrase.

Special reading assignment

1. Henry hankered to measure the height of hydro towers in the right-of-way.
2. Horrified onlookers watched the steel-built hydro towers fall in the fierce ice storm. [Near Montreal, 1989.]

 

C is for Car Park

On a sunny day, the car park by the beach fills early in the day.

C is for compound words

Compound words are a way of stringing two or more words together to create another word with a more exact meaning.

Sometimes compound words are just put together.

homecoming

Sometimes they are kept apart.

conga line, coral reef

Sometimes they are hyphenated.

counter-attack

A whole compound word means something different to the individual words or parts.

Exercises

1. Take a new passage or text from a newspaper, magazine, or book. Or, make a list of car parts.
2. Identify as many compound words as you can.
3. What do the words mean? Use each one in a sentence.
4. Break the compound words apart. How does that change their meaning?