Secrets behind the Hyphen

A lesson on how hyphen works

by Kasra Sharifan | Jul 22, 2019 | Writing

The Hyphen (-) is a short horizontal line which is mainly used between two or more words to form a single meaning. By using a hyphen, we show that the word before and the word after are joined and this is a new word. Here are a few situations where hyphens must be used.

1. Compound Words

Perhaps the most important role of hyphens is in compound modifiers. For example:

A well-known city
A long-standing friend

Compound modifier is a group of words which together have a single meaning. Thus they are considered ONE word only. As soon as they join, they do not carry their individual meanings anymore. Because of this, they must be connected by hyphen to form a single modifier. These pictures clearly show the difference.

I bought a pair of light-blue jeans yesterday.

I bought a pair of light blue jeans yesterday.

Note: The same rule applies to numbers more than twenty. You can see the difference here:

fifty five = 50 (and) 5
fifty-five = 55

2. Writing

The Hyphen is also used to split a long word at the end of a line into two parts.

Universities have to provide their first-year students with reasonable accommo–
dations to improve their education standards globally.

In IELTS Writing test, there are two important points which must be taken into consideration:
1- Make sure you are splitting the word in almost two equal parts.

wrong:

…. accommoda-
tion …

…. ac-
commodation …

2- More importantly! split the word where syllables end. If you do not know where syllables start or end, consult a good dictionary.

wrong:

…. acco-
mmodation …

…. accomm-
odation …

3. Hyphen vs. Dash

Dash [ – ] is a line used in writing to separate two related parts of a sentence. At first glance, dashes and hyphens are horizontal lines with no significant visual differences; however, dashes are longer and are mostly used in informal writing. They can replace colons (:) or semi-colons (;) or brackets ([ ]). Here are examples showing how the dash is used:

The destruction of forests – destruction has been caused by human interference – will result in huge climate change and desertification.
There are three things I never remember – names, faces, and I have forgotten the third one.

Kasra Sharifan

Co-founder and CFO

British Council certified English teacher, IDP-trained IELTS instructor, content writer, editor-in-chief, co-founder, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at IELTS Juice Online Academy.