Grammar Tips & Articles »

Hyphens and Compound Words

This Grammar.com article is about Hyphens and Compound Words — enjoy your reading!


25 sec read
2,979 Views
  Ed Good  —  Grammar Tips
Font size:

Introduction

In chapter 3 of the eBook Understanding the Parts of Speech, you’ll learn about compound adjectives, those multiword, often made-up adjectives that enliven our writing. Compound adjectives are also called “phrasal adjectives.”

We also have compound nouns, where some hyphenation takes place.

Most hyphenation in compounds, however, occurs with adjectives. So I will just list the major compound nouns that have hyphens and then provide more detailed coverage of compound adjectives.

 

Previous: Prefix Words - Exceptions to the Rule

Next: Hyphens and Compound Nouns

Rate this article:

Have a discussion about this article with the community:

1 Comment
  • Lisa Hanes-Cox
    Lisa Hanes-Cox
    is policy-making hyphenated?
    LikeReply6 years ago

Citation

Use the citation below to add this article to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Hyphens and Compound Words." Grammar.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Dec. 2024. <https://www.grammar.com/hyphens-and-compound-words>.

Free, no signup required:

Add to Chrome

Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

Free, no signup required:

Add to Firefox

Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

Free Writing Tool:

Instant
Grammar Checker

Improve your grammar, vocabulary, style, and writing — all for FREE!


Quiz

Are you a grammar master?

»
Which sentence contains a grammatical error?
A She did well on the exam.
B She did good on the exam.
C She done good on the exam.
D She did goodly on the exam.

Improve your writing now:

Download Grammar eBooks

It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.