Hyphens (blog #7)

I still question myself when it comes to using hyphens correctly, so I thought it might be a good idea to go over that section in the AP book so that look at it closer. Writing in the blog about something I am struggling to remember or understand has helped me so far, so here's to better understanding hyphens. 

Use of hyphens is acceptable when not using them would cause confusion.

Example: The conference is for small businessmen. 

Use of hyphen will alleviate confusion in this sentence.

The conference is for small-businessmen.

Typically a hyphen is used when a compound modifier precedes a noun. 

Example: full-time job, well-known man, better-qualified applicant

The hyphen will remain if the modifier is used after the verb to be.

Example: the woman is quick-witted, the child is soft-spoken 

Hyphens are not used on adverbs or words ending in -ly, because readers naturally assume that it describes the noun that follows. 

When large amounts are spelled out, hyphens use a hyphen to connect a word ending in -y to another word. 

Example: twenty-one, fifty-five

Suspensive hyphenation:

Example: a 5- to 10- year sentence in prison

I hope I remember these rules! It makes it somewhat more clear to know that they should be used when preceding a noun, that is a helpful rule of thumb. Or is it rule-of-thumb ?? :) This is not in the AP stylebook! 

It surprises me how easy it is to find editing mistakes every week. They are everywhere! Unfortunately, I found another one in a published book. This one is in the book by Cameron Diaz, "The Body Book." Here is a picture the editing mistake I found while I was reading the electronic version of the book:

I highlighted the misspelled word "possess" and also included a screenshot of the page without the misspelling highlighted. See you next week :)