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Contributor: Jennifer Blanchard. Lesson ID: 13452
The word hyphen sounds complicated, but really, it's just referring to a dash. Just like this: - ! How and when should you use it, though? Come see what this lesson has to say about that!
Take a look at this hyphen joke.
Write your ideas down in your notebook or on paper.
Then, keep reading to see if you were right!
A hyphen, which looks like a short line, is an all-important punctuation mark used for certain grammar reasons.
That's the hyphen we are talking about!
Knowing what a hyphen is and how and when to use it is important because it will help you better understand when reading. It will also make your writing easier to understand.
Let's get into the nitty-gritty of hyphen usage!
There are a few specific details on when to use a hyphen; however, its basic purpose is what made the opening joke so funny.
A hyphen breaks apart words while bringing them together.
| When to Use a Hyphen | Examples | |
| to join two (or more) words acting as one adjective BEFORE a noun |
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| compound numbers or fractions |
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with the prefixes ex-, self-, and all- between a prefix and a capitalized word |
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| with the suffix -elect |
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| with figures or letters |
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to divide words at the end of a line (if necessary) If this happens, you should only break the word and place the hyphen where the syllable break is or where a hyphen would already go. |
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two words brought together as a compound These words CAN have a hyphen but may also just be combined into one word. You may also add a hyphen to a word you make up for humor, vivid writing, or to avoid confusion. |
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| the ages of people and things |
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| to show distance between time and numbers |
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| double last names |
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If you would like to explore more examples or see rarer instances of hyphen usage, check out Hyphens.
A hyphen is NOT the same thing as a dash!
A dash looks like a hyphen but is a little longer. We won't get into dashes right now, but they are used in place of other punctuation — such as commas, parentheses, semicolons, colons, and ellipses — to add emphasis.
Now, keep going with hyphens in the Got It? section!
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