When NOT to use a Hyphen

I found this list over on the Terribly Write blog and just had to pass it along. Seriously, when or when not to use a hyphen just perplexes me at times. :) So, courtesy of Laura at Terribly Write, here are 30 words that do NOT need a hyphen:


backstabbing
breakup (noun)
breathtaking
comeback (noun)
counterintuitive
downright
hobnob
latchkey
mainstream
midweek
nevertheless
newfound
nighttime
nonetheless
nonstop
overdo
overexpose
overpriced
overrated
oversized
postpartum
preteen
rendezvous
roundup (noun)
secondhand
sidekick
sightseeing
sourpuss
straightforward
woebegone

And, the rule for using a hyphen when discussing the age of someone....if you are using "years old" (plural) you don't need hyphens. If it is not plural (year old) you use 2 of them.

For example - My main character is 18 years old, but she throws a fit like a 2-year-old.

For more awesome grammar tips, check out Laura's site HERE. And come back Thursday...I'll be spending some time with a dictionary finding words that DO need a hyphen :D

Post Title

→

When NOT to use a Hyphen

Post URL

→

https://shortemohaircuts2011.blogspot.com/2011/03/when-not-to-use-hyphen.html

Visit short emo haircuts for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Tip Tuesday - How to Write Good

I know you've all seen variations of the following list, but really it's just too funny yet full of good tips :D I found this version at Grammar Humor.

Don't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice.

Don't use no double negatives.

Don't never use no triple negatives.

No sentence fragments

Corollary: Complete sentences: important.

Stamp out and eliminate redundancy.

Avoid cliches like the plague.

All generalizations are bad.

Take care that your verb and subject is in agreement.

A preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.

Avoid those run-on sentences that just go on, and on, and on, they never stop, they just keep rambling, and you really wish the person would just shut up, but no, they just keep going, they're worse than the Energizer Bunny, they babble incessantly, and these sentences, they just never stop, they go on forever...if you get my drift...

Never go off on tangents, which are lines that intersect a curve at only one point and were discovered by Euclid, who lived in the sixth century, which was an era dominated by the Goths, who lived in what we now know as Poland...

Don't obfuscate your theses with extraneous verbiage.

Never use that totally cool, radically groovy out-of-date slang.

Avoid tumbling off the cliff of triteness into the black abyss of overused metaphors.

Keep your ear to the grindstone, your nose to the ground, take the bull by the horns of a dilemma, and stop mixing your metaphors.

Avoid those abysmally horrible, outrageously repellent exaggerations.

Avoid any awful anachronistic aggravating antediluvian alliterations.

This sentence no verb.

Post Title

→

Tip Tuesday - How to Write Good

Post URL

→

https://shortemohaircuts2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/tip-tuesday-how-to-write-good.html

Visit short emo haircuts for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection