Hyphens: An Introductory Course

So I got my alderman's e-newsletter the other day.

It announced that "Summer has officially kicked-off" in our ward.

If you're a proofreader, then you are cringing like I cringed. If you're not, then you may be wondering, "So what's the problem? Those words all look fine to me."

Hyphen usage can be a tough one. It's not like we are drilled on it in school, like we are with spelling. And MS Word's grammar checker is fairly useless when it comes to hyphens.

Hyphen Headaches?

When should you use a hyphen, and when should you leave it out? It depends on how the phrase is used in a sentence: verb, adjective, noun, adverb, or something else. It also depends on where in the sentence the phrase occurs.

But hyphens are not as hard as you may think. In 90% of cases, you can just look it up in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster is great about including the hyphen in phrases where it's correct to use one. Like a good English teacher, Merriam-Webster usually provides examples of the word/phrase used in a sentence so that you can have context and be totally sure. (Side note: Merriam-Webster's beautifully short URL contains a hyphen: www.m-w.com).

Rule of Thumb

If you don't have a dictionary handy, here's a rule of thumb that works in many cases. If the phrase that you are tempted to hyphenate is the last thing in the sentence, don't hyphenate it. If it it is not the last thing in the sentence, hyphenate it.

Let's take the phrase "after hours" as an example.

• The Cat Scratch Club is open after hours. END OF THE SENTENCE = NO HYPHEN.
  
  Here, after hours is being used as an adverb. Adverbs describe verbs. This one describes open. When is the club open? After hours.
  

• My friends and I had consumed several gallons of Red Bull, so we went to an after-hours club after the bars closed. NOT AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE = HYPHEN.
  
  Here, after hours is being used as an adjective. What kind of club? An after-hours club.
  

Kicked Off

Following this rule of thumb, we now see why my alderman's ghostwriter had it wrong. In the sentence "Summer has officially kicked-off," the hyphenated phrase is at the end of the sentence. Verdict: NO HYPHEN. It should have been "Summer has officially kicked off."

Advanced Hyphen Usage

If you want to become a Hyphen God/Goddess, tune in next time, where I take the rule of thumb one step further and lay down the expert rules.