Language/English/Grammar/The-Hyphen-and-The-Dash-(Part-2)

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More Uses of the Hyphen (-) The Dash (–)

This is a continuation of the lesson on the hyphen and the dash. The uses of the hyphen and the dash will be treated in this lesson.

  • Sometimes, a group of words are lumped together to form adjectives which modify a noun. In such cases, use a hyphen between such words.

An example:

The secretary compiled an up-to-date list of employees.

However, there are rules governing this. One of which is that whenever the first part or first word in the group of words (required to form the adjective) ends in an ‘ly’, hyphens are not included.

An example:

The poorly managed buildings were demolished.

  • When proper nouns are involved, and a prefix is to be added to the proper noun, a hyphen is placed between the prefix and the noun. This is not very common however.

She is either non-Asian or non-African.

  • As in the case of forming adjectives from a group of words, some words in English are called compound words. Compound words are words formed by joining two or more words together with the aid of a hyphen. Examples include: daughter-in-law, terra-cotta, etc.
  • There are also numbers called compound numbers in English. These numbers are formed by joining two or more numbers in written form. Examples include: twenty-five, one-third, etc.
  • As stated earlier, a group of words can be used to modify a noun. However, there are adjectives that are formed from a verb and a preposition. Here, a hyphen is used between them.

An example:

The take-off can be observed from the watchtower.

When words are divided into syllables in writing, a hyphen is placed after each syllable except the last.

An example:

Psy-cho-lo-gy

Uses of the dash (–)[edit | edit source]

  • The dash is used to set aside modifiers which are already separated by commas. An example:

Taking any kind of alcoholic drink – wine, beer or palm wine – arouses her allergies.

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