5 More Examples of Extraneous Hyphens

5 More Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 More Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 More Examples of Extraneous Hyphens By Mark Nichol When it comes to hyphens, prose is often in a state of disequilibrium: Sometimes there are too many, and sometimes there are too few, but careful writers learn when the number of hyphens is just right. These sentences demonstrate a surfeit of hyphenation. 1. â€Å"It should come as no surprise that the America’s Cup sponsors may be less-than-pleased with the event’s slow start.† There is no good reason to link the words in the phrase â€Å"less than pleased† with hyphens in this sentence. If the phrase were to precede a noun describing who or what is less than pleased, the hyphenation would be correct (â€Å"The less-than-pleased sponsors surprised no one with their reaction†). But the phrase follows the referent noun, so no hyphenation is necessary: â€Å"It should come as no surprise that the America’s Cup sponsors may be less than pleased with the event’s slow start.† 2. â€Å"This cafà © serves sophisticated comfort food, with items like gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches for grown-ups.† The sentence refers to a cheese sandwich that is grilled, not a sandwich made of grilled cheese, so the hyphen is extraneous: â€Å"This cafà © serves sophisticated comfort food, with items like gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches for grown-ups.† 3. â€Å"They also held a widely-publicized training recently.† Although â€Å"widely publicized† modifies training, widely also modifies publicized. More importantly, the phrase is not a phrasal adjective. By convention, adverbs ending in -ly are not hyphenated to a verb when the adverb-plus-verb phrase modifies a noun. â€Å"They also held a widely publicized training recently.† (However, an adjective ending in -ly is hyphenated in a phrasal adjective, as in â€Å"She wore a ghastly-looking mask.†) 4. â€Å"She won her first Olympic medal when she was just seventeen-years-old.† References to age are hyphenated before a noun (â€Å"She’s a seventeen-year-old girl†), and they’re hyphenated when a missing subsequent noun is implied (â€Å"She’s a seventeen-year-old†). However, the hyphens are omitted when the reference stands on its own as a simple description of age: â€Å"She won her first Olympic medal when she was just seventeen years old.† 5. â€Å"Snacking can help you keep up with the recommended five-to-nine daily fruit and vegetable servings.† The hyphens in the phrase â€Å"five-to-nine† may appear courtesy of a misunderstanding perhaps the writer’s confused memory of the purpose of a dash in a number range. The sentence should read, â€Å"Snacking can help you keep up with the recommended five to nine daily fruit and vegetable servings.† (Hyphens are valid only when the number range modifies a noun, as in â€Å"a five-to-nine-serving diet† or â€Å"a nine-to-five job†). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Redundant Phrases to AvoidStory Writing 101Careful with Words Used as Noun and Verb