Hyphens are a form of dash (-) which we use between words or parts of words.
We can use hyphens to make compound words, most commonly compound nouns:
Frenchlorry-drivershave blockaded three ports.
Compound nouns formed with prepositions and particles are also usually separated by hyphens:
Come and meet myfather-in-law.
Don’t wear too muchmake-upif you are planning to be in the sun.
We use hyphens with compound verbs and with adverb + adjective compounds:
I’m phoning to ask if you canbaby-sitfor us this evening.
[Labradors are a breed of dog.]
It’s awell-knownfact that Labradors have a very nice temperament.
We often use hyphens to separate words and prefixes:
Thevice-presidentwill speak to the company on Monday.
She met herex-husbandat a party last week.
We also use hyphens to separate compound modifiers:
The oven wasred-hotwhen she touched it.
Atwelve-year-oldgirl was found alone in the large house.
We also sometimes use hyphens when we write out figures:
There weresixty-eightpeople who applied for the job.
Three-quartersof the voters did not reply to the questionnaire.
However, hyphens are becoming less common and people often write several of the above words without hyphens or do not separate compound words at all. A common word with a hyphen such aspost-boxwill also be seen aspost boxandpostbox.
It is important to check the spelling of compound words in a good learner’s dictionary.
See also:
Nouns: compound nouns