I am not alone.

It’s reassuring to know that someone else has noticed.

Filed under: Punctuation

Hyphenating with Modifiers

A modifier is a word or phrase that gives additional information about another word or phrase. A better definition, from the University of Ottawa, is:  “A modifier can be an adjective, an adverb, or a phrase or clause acting as an adjective or adverb In every case, the basic principle is the same: the modifier adds information to another element in the sentence.”

I notice that many people become confused about hyphenating compound modifiers. Consider these examples:

Some agencies allow after-the-fact changes.

They made the change after the fact.

The book was published via on-demand printing.

The book was published on demand.

When the phrases in question (after the fact and on demand) are used as modifiers (giving more information about the change and the printing) they are hyphenated. When they are not used as modifiers, they don’t need to be hyphenated.

Filed under: Hyphens, Punctuation

Hyphenating Prefixes

Writers often have a tendency to hyphenate prefixes, almost all of which don’t actually need to be hyphenated. Very, very few prefixes require hyphenating. It’s not purpose today to explain all of the rules – today I’m just addressing one:

When not hyphenating could result in (momentary) confusion about which word is meant, you should hyphenate.

I was in a book store over the weekend, and there was a sign up that said:

Please don’t leave books on tables. Place them in the resort cart.

I stared at the sign for a few minutes, trying to figure out why it was called a resort cart. Were the books vacationing, off the shelves? I wondered. Was the cart like a resort because it was away from the “home” space of the books? Yes, sometimes I’m not so quick. Eventually I got it. Re-sort cart. As in, books to be sorted again. They definitely should have used the hyphen (although I think “reshelving” would be a better word choice).

Some other words that present this problem (it usually occurs with the prefix “re”):

recreate vs. re-create

recover vs. re-cover

relay vs. re-lay

Filed under: Hyphens, Punctuation

Possessive Apostrophes

Possessive apostrophes can be quite tricksy, especially with words that end in s and with plurals. It’s easiest to see how they work by looking at a few examples.

Let’s use the Rhodes family as our first example.

The Rhodes own a Volkswagon.

Let’s ride in the Rhodeses’ Volkswagon.*

*This plural possessive can be confusing. If we assume that the Volkswagon belongs to the whole Rhodes family, we must make it plural (add es) before adding the possessive. Another example: The classes all took an exam. The classes’ scores were excellent.

Now let’s talk about someone named Bess.

Bess owns a Vespa.

Let’s ride on Bess’ Vespa.

or

Let’s ride on Bess’s Vespa.

Filed under: Apostrophes, Plurals, Punctuation

And/Or

It’s tempting to overuse and/or. In his book Lapsing Into a Comma, Bill Walsh offers this handy explanation:

“… consider whether or alone might mean the same thing. If you’re told Anyone who has seen or heard from this dangerous individual should contact the FBI, but you’ve both seen and heard from that person, does that mean you shouldn’t call the FBI?”  (p. 101)

Filed under: Punctuation, Word Choice

Ellipses

The ellipsis is one of my favorite pieces of punctuation. It is often used to indicate intentional omissions, unfinished thoughts, or a sentence “trailing off.”

The ellipsis consists of three dots (not two or four) and is preceded and followed by a single space:

 “Roses are red … sugar is sweet … and so are you.”

Filed under: Ellipses, Punctuation

The Slash

The slash is used in various ways, but often to indicate or and and. You should not put spaces around the slash unless one or more of the terms separated by the slash is an open compound (words that operate as a single unit but are not hyphenated).

Examples:

The NATM/SEM was selected.

The New Austrian Tunneling Method / Sequential Excavation Method was selected. (Open Compound)

A differential-acting/double-acting pile hammer will be used. (Closed [Hyphenated] Compound)

Filed under: Punctuation, Slashes