{"id":113243,"date":"2012-07-03T20:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockcontent.com\/?p=113243"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:14:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:14:51","slug":"a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Hyphens are the bane of many a great writer\u2019s existence. Mention this simple dash in an online blog writing<\/a> forum or message board and you are sure to stir up controversy. The best way to make sure you get things \u201cright\u201d is by checking The Chicago Manual of Style<\/em>, or whatever style guide your project uses as a reference. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. While like most things in the English language there are dozens of exceptions, here are three main reasons you choose to use this particularly persnickety piece of punctuation.<\/p>\n

Creating Compound Modifiers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compound modifiers are simple, hyphenated terms usually placed before a noun and used as an adjective. \u201cA well-known actor,\u201d \u201cthe eight-year-old boy,\u201d and \u201ca long-tailed cat\u201d are all examples of compound modifiers. But often the same words used after the noun and verb would not be hyphenated. For example: reverse \u201ca well-known actor\u201d into \u201cthe actor is well known,\u201d and the same term is used without a hypen. One world of caution involves the use of adverbs (adjectives ending in \u201cly\u201d) in creating compound modifiers. In this case, the hyphen is usually left out.<\/p>\n

If you start reading modern novels, you\u2019ll spot plenty of writers taking liberties with hyphenation. Sometimes you\u2019ll even catch a creative dash plopped into places that make you squint, but style is constantly evolving. Years ago, \u201cemail\u201d practically always showed up as \u201ce-mail\u201d\u2014and now, in 2025, you rarely see the hyphen. That tells you something about how language just marches along, with or without our permission. Not that editors are relaxing their standards all that much, but the written word is still a living, breathing thing.<\/p>\n

Another thing: hyphen use can be slightly different across the pond. British English, for example, seems to favor the hyphen in places Americans might just let two words coexist without one (think \u201cco-operate\u201d versus \u201ccooperate\u201d). It\u2019s not a big deal, but if your audience spans continents, it\u2019s one more tiny detail to be mindful of\u2014or to gleefully ignore if you\u2019re feeling rebellious. The bottom line is, as long as your meaning is crystal clear and you\u2019re not completely butchering a commonly accepted convention, you\u2019re probably going to be fine.<\/p>\n

Compound Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

When writing numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine, use a hyphen between the two words. The hyphen is also used in fractions of any size. To give a brief example of both these uses, consider this sentence: On my twenty-first birthday I gave one-fourth of a pizza to twenty-one of my closest friends.<\/p>\n

Adding Certain Prefixes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many prefixes take a hyphen \u2014 some of the most common hyphenated prefixes include \u201cself,\u201d \u201call\u201d and \u201cex.\u201d  As an example: My all-knowing ex-husband makes me lose self-control.<\/p>\n

Another place you can nearly always feel confident using a hyphen with prefixes is when the prefix ends with the letter that begins the word you are attaching to it. For example: I de-emphasize the use of the detour on Main Street. De-emphasize was hyphenated while detour was not.<\/p>\n

A Final Word<\/strong><\/p>\n

When in doubt\u2014hyphenate. You should always check your style guide or the dictionary, but if you are writing and simply cannot determine whether a word should have a hyphen or not, go ahead and add it. The hyphen as a punctuation mark is a helping hand for the reader. It lets him or her easily determine that the two words go together. If you are that torn on whether or not it is useful, it will probably not hurt your work to include it, and it may make reading easier.<\/p>\n

}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hyphens are the bane of many a great writer\u2019s existence. Mention this simple dash in an online blog writing forum or message board and you are sure to stir up controversy. The best way to make sure you get things \u201cright\u201d is by checking The Chicago Manual of Style, or whatever style guide your project uses as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[117],"class_list":["post-113243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-migrationwa"],"yoast_head":"\nA Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pt_BR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hyphens are the bane of many a great writer\u2019s existence. Mention this simple dash in an online blog writing forum or message board and you are sure to stir up controversy. The best way to make sure you get things \u201cright\u201d is by checking The Chicago Manual of Style, or whatever style guide your project uses as a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pingback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-03T20:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T18:14:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carolina\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Escrito por\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carolina\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. tempo de leitura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/\",\"name\":\"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-03T20:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-15T18:14:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/5931a4533700c840b9f38199581abc33\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"In\u00edcio\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"Pingback\",\"description\":\"Marketing for builders\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/5931a4533700c840b9f38199581abc33\",\"name\":\"Carolina\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70cde532238b4f8bf4a6e7e589ff0a259eda38fa966564ca7ed7d23e61c27774?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70cde532238b4f8bf4a6e7e589ff0a259eda38fa966564ca7ed7d23e61c27774?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carolina\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/pingback.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/author\/adm1n\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/","og_locale":"pt_BR","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback","og_description":"Hyphens are the bane of many a great writer\u2019s existence. Mention this simple dash in an online blog writing forum or message board and you are sure to stir up controversy. The best way to make sure you get things \u201cright\u201d is by checking The Chicago Manual of Style, or whatever style guide your project uses as a […]","og_url":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/","og_site_name":"Pingback","article_published_time":"2012-07-03T20:47:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-15T18:14:51+00:00","author":"Carolina","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Escrito por":"Carolina","Est. tempo de leitura":"3 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/","url":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/","name":"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers - Pingback","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2012-07-03T20:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-15T18:14:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/5931a4533700c840b9f38199581abc33"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pt-BR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pt-BR","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/a-simple-guide-to-hyphens-for-content-writers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"In\u00edcio","item":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Simple Guide to Hyphens for Content Writers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/","name":"Pingback","description":"Marketing for builders","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"pt-BR"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/5931a4533700c840b9f38199581abc33","name":"Carolina","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pt-BR","@id":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70cde532238b4f8bf4a6e7e589ff0a259eda38fa966564ca7ed7d23e61c27774?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70cde532238b4f8bf4a6e7e589ff0a259eda38fa966564ca7ed7d23e61c27774?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carolina"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/pingback.com"],"url":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/author\/adm1n\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128701,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113243\/revisions\/128701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}