What is a Hyphen?
A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that helps with joining two or more words together to make one compound word. Compound adjectives, compound modifiers, and compound nouns all need a hyphen between the words to make them grammatically correct. For example, the term “on-the-job training” uses hyphens to illustrate the relationship between the words.
When to Use a Hyphen
Before we get into when not to use hyphens, let’s make sure you know the rules for when you should use them.
You should use a hyphen:
- When you are creating a compound adjective that does not come before a noun
- When creating a compound verb
- When writing unknown compound nouns
- When telling the ages of people or things
- To clarify related words
- If your text shows a range of numbers
- When using compound numbers
- Use a hyphen with prefixes when they come before proper nouns or proper adjectives
For more detailed and uncommon uses, you can check out these rules. (Click the link. Read the rules. Take thisquiz when you’re done. Then print out the rules and memorize them!)
When to NOT Use Hyphens
You should not use hyphens:
- If an adverb contains -ly or very
- If a number also contains a compound adjective
- If there is more than one proper noun within a compound adjective
- When you want to replace a comma or semicolon
Despite these clear rules, misused hyphens arestilleverywhere! I still see rampant use of hyphens with the wrong usage — even among professional writers and well-known bloggers — and it. must. stop.
In our proofreading courses, we are strict about hyphen usage and ask our students to re-take quizzes if they aren’t able to understand right and wrong hyphen usage.
Our curriculum includes the difference between an em dash and a hyphen and, in our student groups, we include plenty of posts about hyphen usage and corrections.
Why Are Hyphens so Important?
We know you may be thinking, “OMG, get a grip. What’s the big deal? It’s just a hyphen, and it’s just Facebook! (or: It’s just an email!)”
Here’s the thing.What if you used hyphens like that when it really matters? What if you’re applying for a scholarship and you throw in a few of these buggers in all the wrong places? Or what if you’re reaching out to a potential new proofreading client and, through your misuse of hyphens, you don’t even get a responsebecause that client was so put off by your hyphen misuse? Maybe they’re wondering what else you’d miss if they hired you.
Using a hyphen instead of a proper punctuation mark not only indicates you don’t know when to use hyphens, it also indicates you lack a proper understanding of the correct punctuation to use.
THAT is why knowing when NOT to use a hyphen matters.
Enter this blog post. We hope we can eradicate hyphen misuse, one stupid hyphen at a time. And we hope we can help unsuspecting offenders realize they’ve got a bad habit, too — and inspire them to break it.
So without further ranting, here’s our list of 6 scenarioswhere using a hyphen is just plain wrong.
[Precursory note: WordPress auto-converted some of the hyphens in my examples to “en dashes,” a punctuation mark slightly wider than a hyphen, which *may* make them look correct. But even en dashes wouldn’tbe correct in our examples, and here’s why. A proper hyphen should be the width of a letter.)
Scenario #1:Never use hyphens as commas.
We see this one ALL THE TIME, especially with offsetting parenthetical elements.
Incorrect: Suzie – who is normally a very calm person – is quite irritated bythe misuse of hyphens.
Note that the spacing does not matter here; the hyphen is still the wrong choice for punctuating this sentence.
Also incorrect:Suzie-who is normally a very calm person-is quite irritated bythe misuse of hyphens.
See how messed up that looks? “Suzie-who” and “person-is” are joined together as if they’rehyphenated!
Also incorrect:Suzie- who is normally a very calm person- is quite irritated bythe misuse of hyphens.
Let’s fix the incorrect example.
Correct: Use commas. Suzie, who is normally a very calm person, is quite irritated by the misuse of hyphens.
Correct: Use an em dash.Suzie — who is normally a very calm person — is quite irritated by the misuse of hyphens.
(The spacing before and after the em dash, by the way, varies based on the style guide you follow. Google Docs will take three hyphens and auto-convert to an em dash, but some programs won’t. In this case, the “double hyphen” is fine, butnever use a single hyphen.)
Scenario #2: Neveruse a hyphen in place ofa semicolon.
Semicolons are used to separate two complete but related clauses. These clauses should be able to stand separately, but because they’re related, a semicolon is appropriate and helps the reader understand that the second clause expands on the first.
For example:
Incorrect: I went to the mall – I needed some new shoes.
Also Incorrect: I went to the mall- I needed some new shoes.
Just as Incorrect: I went to the mall –I needed some new shoes.
You’ll note here, too, that the spacing does not change anything. It’s still a hyphen, and it’s still incorrect.
Correct: I went to the mall; I needed some new shoes.
Correct: I went to the mall. I needed some new shoes.
Scenario #3: Neveruse hyphens in placeof em dashes.
In Scenario 1, you saw an example of hyphens being used in place of em dashes to offset parenthetical elements. Em dashes are used stylistically and are very versatile. In contrast to hyphens, em dashes can take the place of colons, commas, and parentheses.
Examples:
Incorrect: We can help you look your best- even if you don’t feel that great.
Incorrect: Toys4U offers tons of fun options for all ages – from infants to teens.
Note, again, the spacing does not matter:it’s still a hyphen, and it’s still incorrect.
So let’s fix these…
Correct:We can help you look your best — even if you don’t feel that great.
Correct:Toys4U offers tons of fun options for all ages — from infants to teens.
Scenario #4: Neveruse hyphens in placeof colons.
Colons are most often used to precede lists… so if you’re about to list things, don’t use a hyphen! (Unless you’re listing nouns preceded by compound descriptors, that is :-)).
Examples:
Incorrect: We are a family of three- my husband, me, and our cat.
Incorrect:Here’s my Christmas list-a new bike, a puzzle, and some cash.
Spacing still doesn’t matter. Why?Because it’s still a hyphen, and it’s still incorrect.
Now we fix ’em…
Correct:We are a family of three: my husband, me, and our cat.
Correct:Here’s my Christmas list: a new bike, a puzzle, and some cash.
Scenario #5: Neveruse hyphens in placeof parentheses.
Expanding on one of the correct answers in #1 — parenthetical elements. Let’s look at a few more of these.
Incorrect: Whatever your mom says – even if it’s crazy – just do it.
Incorrect: Around 10 o’clock on Christmas Eve-sometimes a little earlier-we each get to open one gift.
That second one really makes my skin itch for the same reason as in #1:Eve-sometimes and “earlier-we” are NOT hyphenated words!! And in the first example, the tiny little misused hyphen just makes the sentence hard to read.
Here’s how to do it right:
Correct:Whatever your mom says (even if it’s crazy), just do it.
Correct:Around 10 o’clock on Christmas Eve (sometimes a little earlier), we each get to open one gift.
Note that I added a comma after the parentheses because both the example sentences begin with an introductory element. Adding commas after introductory elements makes the sentence flow better.
Scenario #6: Never use hyphens with the word “very” or adverbs ending in -ly.
Hyphens can be used to make compound words. But some words don’t need to be joined. This one actually gets us sometimes — especially the -ly one. We catch it 99%of the time.
Examples:
Incorrect: I’m a newly-married, happily-employed proofreader.
Incorrect:Have you seen hervery-organized closet?
These are easy to fix. Just take out the hyphen!
Correct:I’m a newly married, happily employed proofreader.
Correct:Have you seen hervery organized closet?
Want to Learn More about Hyphens?
You can check out our General Proofreading course to learn all about how to use grammar and punctuation marks correctly. The course will also teach you how to use your word-nerd skills to make money as a full-time career or as a side hustle.
Just need a grammar refresh? Grammar Lion has the perfect grammar courses for teachers, writers, or those who just want to be more grammatically correct.
