Paul Allardyce

LXVI. The hyphen is used between the component parts of some compound words.

Paper-knife; book-keeping; coal-pit; water-carrier; printing-press; sea-water; man-of-war; now-a-days; high-art decoration; good-looking.

There is no rule to distinguish the compound words that take a hyphen from those that do not. If one be in doubt about a particular word, the best thing to do is to refer to a dictionary.

LXVII. When one syllable of a word ends with a vowel, and the next syllable begins with the same vowel, the hyphen is placed between the syllables to indicate that the two vowels do not form a diphthong, that is, that they should not be pronounced together.

Co-operative; co-ordinate; pre-eminently; re-establish; re-echo.

In the same way the hyphen sometimes ensures that two consonants shall be pronounced separately; as in "book-keeping," "shell-less," "cock-crow," "sword-dance."

LXVIII. As a rule, a hyphen should not be placed after a simple prefix: "contravene," "preternatural," "hypercritical," "bilateral."

To this there are some exceptions:

(a) "Anti-religious," "ultra-liberal," "semi-lunar," "co-eval." In these words the pronunciation is more clearly marked by inserting the hyphen. Compare "antiseptic," "antinomian," "ultramontane," "semicircle."

Perhaps among these exceptions should also be included such words as "pseudo-critic," "non-ego," "non-existent." Compare "pseudonym," where the prefix is contracted, and "nonentity." Words like "pre-eminent," divided for the same reason, have already been noted.

(b) "Re-creation," "re-mark." The hyphen distinguishes the etymological meaning of these words as distinguished from their derived and ordinary meaning.

(c) "Pre-Norman," "anti-Darwinian," "philo-Turk." If the capital-letter be retained where a prefix is put to a proper name, the hyphen is obviously necessary.

LXIX. When a number is written in words and not in figures, the words making up the number, if there be more words than one, are in certain cases separated from each other by the hyphen.

The numbers to which this rule applies are the cardinal and the ordinal numbers from twenty-one and twenty-first to ninety-nine and ninety-ninth inclusive. The hyphen is used also when the words are inverted; as "four-and-thirty," "six-and-fortieth."

LXX. Fractional parts written in words are separated in the same way, a hyphen being placed between the numerator and denominator; as "two-thirds," "three-sixteenths."

But if the word "part" or the word "share" follows, the hyphen is not used; as "two third parts."

LXXI. Several words may be joined by hyphens, in order to indicate that they are to be read together.

As this last sentence stands, the hyphen is really the only means of making it perfectly clear that those who are referred to as employed in factories are the mothers, not the children. Hyphens are sometimes used in cases like the following: "A never-to-be-forgotten event," "peace-at-any-rate principles." They are almost invariably used in "well-to-do," "alack-a-day."

LXXII. The prefix "a" before the gerund is followed by a hyphen.

Note that "agoing" is not divided.

LXXIII. When a word is divided at the end of a line, part of the word being in the next line, a hyphen is placed after the part at the end of the line.

So far as rules can be given for the division of the word, it may be said:

(a) The division must be at the end of a syllable. The syllable according to etymological derivation, and the syllable according to pronunciation, are not always the same. In case of conflict the pronunciation is to be the guide.

(b) The part in the next line should, if possible, begin with a consonant. An examination of a number of words will show that this is only another way of saying that we should be guided by pronunciation.

(c) Double letters are divided; as "at-tract," "profes-sion," "dif-ficulty."

The following examples are given consecutively from a book taken at random. This seems the best way of illustrating the rule:

Some selected examples may be also given: