As a medical transcription editor and transcriptionist I run across thousands of hyphens a day...many of them misplaced or inappropriate.
The biggest problem seems to be hyphenated or compound adjectives. The simplest description I could find for hyphenated or compound adjectives is:
"A compound adjective is formed when two or more adjectives work together to modify the same noun. These terms should be hyphenated to avoid confusion or ambiguity."
I found this handy little hyphen quiz. It's not hard, but interesting. See how you do (I got 12/12).
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4 comments:
I got 11/12. I missed the very first question. Thanks for sharing this quiz site. I usually feel confused when it comes to hyphens but this quiz made me realize I know a little more than I thought.
That was interesting! I missed one (#9), and as an editor, I know it's now the acceptable rule NOT to put a comma between two descriptives (is that a word? LOL) as the "correct answer" has below. If I were editing a prose submission for the Rose & Thorn Literary ezine, I'd take it out.
Correct Answer: A The delicious, gooey frosting melted before we could refrigerate the cake.
Wow I suck.
I don't really use hyphens though, but it wouldn't hurt to do better. lol
I have a book that explains it all but I am too lazy to always look so I guess! Not cool, I know.
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