Search results for 'tag:Hyphens tag:Verbs' matching tags 'Hyphens' and 'Verbs'

Re: when to hyphenate adjectives and when not

Grammar Geek — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:08:34 GMT

Anonymous
a combination of higher-ed administrations

This is not a comparative: it's short for "higher education"

When you have two words that modify a noun, you often (usually) hyphenate them. Higher-education administrators, full-time students, 30-foot pole.

When they do not modify a noun you usually do NOT hyphenate. He chose a career in higher education, she goes to school full time, the pole measured 30 feet. (Note that it changed to singular when it modified the noun, but that's a different story.). Use a dictionary to see which words take the hyphen all the time, even when not modifying a noun.

(Also, do not use a hyphen with adverbs that end in -ly, like "highly paid job.")

Re: "all-hyphenated" noun

Clive — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:25:14 GMT

Hi,

Thank you so much.

You asked/said:

I think certain words like "am" or "so" are not hyphenated when used as part of a hyphenated noun or a hyphenated adjective. Why is that? I'm not sure what you mean. Can you give some sentences that include the kind of thing you are talking about?

I believe I have used the same or a similar example in another post about adjectives.

He has this I'm-so good-and-I-deserve-it-all attitude.

Would you say the hyphenation is properly done? From what I have learned/saw, "be" verbs (possibly all verbs?? I don't know) and words like "so" are not hyphenated. Why is that? If you want to use a string of hyphens like this, I can' think of any reason why you couldn't include such words in the hyphenation.

However, as I tried to make clear before, my advice is not to use hypens like this. It will make your writing seem lazy and clumsy. Just put it all in quotes. Or, if you want to be more formal and precise, structure your meaning in another way. eg he has this attitude that he is so good and that he deserves it all.

Clive

Re: word classes

Clive — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:46:59 GMT

Hi,

When she was 16-years-old a 16-year-old is a noun. 16 years old (ie no hyphens) is an adjectival phrase
she ran away (preposition) from home and moved to London, then (adverb) New York to work as (adverb) a nurse. During (preposition) her time in New York, she kept in contact with (preposition) her sister. She said âI donât know what (pronoun) Iâll do about it, but I donât see why (noun) we should just (adverb) waitâ¦ And I always (adverb) had that picture in my mind, all adverb through this time.â

German (adjective?) inventor (noun) John Smith...

She travelled far, crossing (verb present participle) several army (noun used as an adjective?) checkpoints, until she was expelled from (preposition) the country.

Some of these words are not easy to classify.
Best wishes, Clive

Re: Do compound adjectives need to be hyphenated when they act as object complements?

Mr Wordy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:57:31 GMT

dtran1119
I know the rule that we're supposed to hyphenate compound adjectives when they appear before a noun and not after a noun.

For example:

"My parents want me to attend a well-known university."
"The school I attend is well known."

Adverb-adjective compounds, as you have here, are often not hyphenated, even when they precede a noun. For example: "clearly defined rule", not "clearly-defined rule".

I've never really thought about it too much before, but off the top of my head it seems that shorter adverbs, especially those not ending "-ly", are more likely to be hyphenated in combination. For example, I think I would use a hyphen in "often-quoted passage" but I definitely wouldn't in "frequently quoted passage". "Well" is normally hyphenated in compounds peceding the noun, as in your example.

I would always use a hyphen when there is otherwise a risk of ambiguity or misassociation. For example, "fast-talking politician", not "fast talking politician".

dtran1119
Which one is correct?

1) "We should have school year-round."
2) "We should have school year round."

In this case I would definitely use a hyphen. Otherwise there is a real risk of "school year" being read as one unit. However, in "We should leave the building perfectly intact" I would not use a hyphen.

A good rule of thumb in cases of doubt: if the sentence is significantly easier to parse with a hyphen, then use one.

Re: punctuation

Mr Wordy — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:58:51 GMT

I just spotted a couple of typos (probably), one double space, and a couple of places where I'd use commas.

I was expecting your email, Jane; I am glad to receive it. I have one question though: did you decide on your wedding date? Are you marrying the dashing fellow you were with at our high school reunion a few weeks ago? If that's him, you are a lucky girl. He looked so nice and, on top of that, he looked so gentlemanly. Please let me know the details. Bye.

Proper punctuation in emails is to be commended, and you should punctuate them just as you would any other piece of text. For dashes I often use two hyphens (--), as you have. (Not only are proper dashes a pain to enter, but I'm never entirely confident that they will be rendered correctly in whatever system the recipient is using.)

Many "-ly" words are adverbs, but "gentlemanly" is an adjective. The way you've used it is fine -- just as "he looked so handsome" is fine. What you can't say is something like "he looked at me gentlemanly" (intended to mean "in the manner of a gentleman") because this sentence needs an adverb (as in "he looked at me cautiously").

Re: adverbs and hyphens.

Mr Wordy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:50:27 GMT

I would write:

Mr Jones, who will be 45 years old next month, ...

Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month.

Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month; he will then be a 45-year-old man.

The hyphens in the last example prevent the phrase being interpreted as "45 year" + "old man" (unlikely you might say, but to me that's the logic).

In the other examples there is no possibility of misassociation, so there's no need to hyphenate anything.

adverbs and hyphens.

daniel1984 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:24:03 GMT

Hello, I wonder if you could help me a little with adverbs and hyphens? Am I correct in thinking any sentence or phrase used adverbially doesn't require a hyphen? Such as: "Mr Jones, who will be 45-years-old next month." So this would be incorrect and should read "Mr Jones, who will be 45 years old next month"? "Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month" This should be hyphenated as there is no adverb? "Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month; he will then be a 45-year-old man" This is wrong and should be the other way around? for example "Mr Jones will be 45-years-old next month; he will then be a 45 year old man"? Any help on this subject will be much appreciated.

Re: correction 6

New2grammar — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:46:55 GMT

CBS is airing a new series called ~~Swing Town~~ Swingtown.

I'm not familiar with this show myself, but on the CBS website it's called "Swingtown". I'd probably put "Swingtown" in italics, or quotes, but this is really a style thing.

Good Point

As the name implies, the show is about a town of swingers practicing polygamy.

"Polygamy" means being married to more than one person at the same time. Is that really the case here? Or are they just engaging in promiscuous sex?

You are right. It should be promiscuous sex. Thanks.

The network received tons of negative as well as positive feedback even before the debut.

"Tons of" is a very informal expression that might be just a tad too casual here.

The problem is I don't know a good substitute for it :( Any suggestions?

Due to its adult content, the much anticipated series is put in a later timeslot, a move critics call network desperation as steamy series are often associated with cable networks and movies.

The logic is even though the content is steamy, the network decided to show it and simply move it to a latter slot which implies how desperate the network is. How would you repharase the sentence to make it work?

I also don't really see why steamy series are "associated with movies". Do you mean "steamy content/subject matter"? I agree. Sorry

If "network desperation" is a literal quote from critics then I'd put it in quotes. If it's not a literal quote then I'd consider rephrasing the sentence to avoid the impression that the quotes ought to be there but had been forgotten.

During an interview, the producer defended the decision, saying "If you don't like it, don't watch".

The verb "defend" can occasionally be intransitive ("I attacked and he defended.") but this is fairly rare and doesn't quite work for me here.

I see.

~~Wondering what's~~ Being curious about the lifestyle of swingers, I think I'm going to watch, though I don't like *** films [help...it's shot in the 70s setting...what's the opposite of contemporary or modern] - contemporary or modern??? films are much better in general.

I'm not completely clear just from what you wrote if your preference depends on when the film is made or the period in which it's set. But I gather that this is a modern production set in the 1970s, so I guess you probably mean the latter. In fact, this show appears to be a drama series, not a film. There's a term "period drama" which means a drama set in a past time, but whether a drama set as recently as the 1970s would qualify as a "period drama" is questionable. I'd probably end up saying something like: "I don't like shows set in the past -- I much prefer shows with a modern/contemporary setting."

It's a modern production set in the 70s. I've always thought film included all types of motion pictures such as movies and drama series.

a. a sequence of images projected onto a screen, creating the illusion of movement

b. a form of entertainment in such a sequence of images Related adjective cinematic

Your hyphen should be a dash, but probably you know that. When I can't be bothered to try to enter a proper dash I use two hyphens: "--".

You are the first person to tell me that. What's the difference? Are there two different keys on the keyboard? When to use which?

Sorry for so many follow-up questions. You got many good points and I just wanted to make sure I get all your points.

Re: correction 6

Mr Wordy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:41 GMT

CBS is airing a new series called ~~Swing Town~~ Swingtown.

I'm not familiar with this show myself, but on the CBS website it's called "Swingtown". I'd probably put "Swingtown" in italics, or quotes, but this is really a style thing.

As the name implies, the show is about a town of swingers practicing polygamy.

"Polygamy" means being married to more than one person at the same time. Is that really the case here? Or are they just engaging in promiscuous sex?

The network received tons of negative as well as positive feedback even before the debut.

"Tons of" is a very informal expression that might be just a tad too casual here.

Due to its adult content, the much anticipated series is put in a later timeslot, a move critics call network desperation as steamy series are often associated with cable networks and movies.

The logic of this sentence doesn't really work for me. The alleged "desperation" logically seems to apply to the fact that they showed it at all, not the fact that they shunted it into a late timeslot. I also don't really see why steamy series are "associated with movies". Do you mean "steamy content/subject matter"?

During an interview, the producer defended the decision, saying "If you don't like it, don't watch".

The verb "defend" can occasionally be intransitive ("I attacked and he defended.") but this is fairly rare and doesn't quite work for me here.

Your hyphen should be a dash, but probably you know that. When I can't be bothered to try to enter a proper dash I use two hyphens: "--".

mostly word usages

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:46:04 GMT

Hi,

I was looking at the Verb Tense Consistency section of the OWL Online Writing Lab and I have these doubts of word usages.

1. Do you have to make one word out the word or words 'time-distinction'? Why not 'time distinction'? It makes sense without a hyphen too to me?

..., but the differences between them make clear sense only in the context other sentences since the time-distinctions suggested by different tenses are ...

2. What difference would it make if it is written 'the pizzeria's window'?

... , which takes place (present) the day after Mookie has smashed (present perfect) the pizzeria window.

3. I thougt for the most part, the only time you use a counable 'development' is when talking about the addition or development to an physical structure. Is this use correct?

...entitles (biographical information about a historical figure or narration of developments in an author's idea over time).