Definition
 The
hyphen is a short mark - like this.
It
is used to show a link between words.
EXAMPLES
mother-in-law |
two-thirds |
matter-of-fact |
co-operation |
USE
Hyphens
are used to join words.
He plans to make a come-back.
They
are also used to avoid an odd sequence of letters.
Re-enter looks better than Reenter.
Hyphens
are also used when you need to avoid confusion:
Notice
the difference between these two examples:
two-year-old cats
This
means - 'Any cats which are two years old'.
This
means - 'Two cats which are one year old'. They
are also used to show the difference between terms which are spelled
the same, but which have different meanings:
reformation |
change for the better |
re-formation |
to form again
|
recover |
to regain control |
re-cover |
to cover again
|
resign |
to stand down |
re-sign |
to sign again |
Hyphens
are used when new terms are formed.
The
hyphen disappears when the new term becomes popular.
bath-tub |
bathtub |
book-shelf |
bookshelf |
This
is happening right now, where all three forms of a term in IT are
being used:
Word processor
Word-processor
Wordprocessor
|
