5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens

5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens By Mark Nichol Hyphens are helpful little things that aid in reader comprehension. Although confusion is not at great risk in phrases like â€Å"sharp-dressed man† (though the omission of the hyphen suggests that the passage literally refers to a dressed man who is sharp) others, such as â€Å"small-business owner,† can at the very least conjure distracting imagery if they omit the hyphen. And such hyphenated word strings as â€Å"song-and-dance man† and â€Å"customer-relationship-management software† help keep the reader focused, though judiciously relaxing a phrase is often a welcome solution: The former phrase isn’t exhausting to read, but how about â€Å"software for customer-relationship management† in lieu of the latter? On the other hand, sins of commission regarding hyphenation are as endemic as those of omission. Here are examples of superfluous usage: 1. â€Å"Mergers and acquisitions ground to a near-halt in 2001.† â€Å"Near-halt† and its cousins â€Å"near-disaster† and â€Å"near-miss† are results of a misunderstanding: When near modifies another adjective, it should be hyphenated to its teammate (â€Å"near-fatal accident†), but a hyphen serves no use in linking near in isolation directly to a noun. 2. â€Å"The recently-launched firm survived by limiting itself to modestly-scaled projects.† Adverbs ending in -ly never are never hyphenated, though suffix-free adverbs are: â€Å"longer-lasting freshness.† 3. â€Å"The mostly flat paved trail is an inline-skater’s dream.† There was a time when compound nouns that are now open or closed, such as â€Å"income tax† or â€Å"taskmaster,† were likely to be hyphenated. That usage, however, is now considered archaic (with some puzzling exceptions such as mind-set and life-form). Safely assume that just about any such linkage you see is incorrect though, to be safe, I offer the inverse of a piece of all-purpose advice: Distrust, but verify. 4. â€Å"She realized that the police department was less-than-dedicated to assisting her.† Step back and ponder what benefit of comprehension accrues from creating the wagon train of â€Å"less-than-dedicated,† then excise the offending hyphens. 5. â€Å"The starting center is seven-feet tall.† The necessity of hyphenating physical dimensions in phrasal adjectives (â€Å"the seven-foot-tall center†) confuses many writers into believing that any phrasing having to do with size or weight or distance must be linked. â€Å"Seven-foot-tall center† is hyphenated so as not to suggest that the tall center has seven feet, but no such ambiguity attends â€Å"seven feet tall.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Avoid Beginning a Sentence with â€Å"With†What is the Difference Between Metaphor and Simile?Prepositions to Die With