Hyphenation

Hello! Welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Neil.

And I’m Catherine. And today we’re talking about hyphenation.

Hyphens are those little signs - like dashes - that we use in writing to join two words together.

Yes, like in old-fashioned. There’s always a hyphen between old and fashioned. Let’s start with a clip from Brian. He’s a news reporter, and he’s reporting from a high school about an election.

Think about this question while you’re listening: How does Brian describe the young people at the school? Here’s Brian.

I asked some eighteen-year-old students at this secondary school how they’re voting in this year’s election. They’re all hard-working young people. Twenty-two of them are undecided and are likely to make a last-minute decision. But a sizable group say today’s politicians are not well respected and their attitudes are out of date . Back to the studio.

So we asked you: How does Brian describe the young people at the school?

And the answer is: He says they are hard-working.

That means they work hard. Now there are lots of compound adjectives like hard-working that we make with an adjective or adverb like hard plus a present participle like working .

And we always write them with a hyphen. So hard hyphen working (hard-working).

And we can make compound adjectives in other ways too. Listen to this clip for three more examples.

I asked some eighteen-year-old students at this secondary school how they’re voting in this year’s election. Twenty-two of them are undecided and are likely to make a last-minute decision.

First we had eighteen-year-old students . Eighteen-year-old is an adjective made from three words joined together with hyphens. When we write age before a noun, we use hyphens.

Eighteen hyphen year hyphen old (eighteen-year-old).

Exactly. And it’s the same with numbers; for example, we write the phrase a two-door car like this:

A two hyphen door car (a two-door car) . But that’s only for numbers before the noun. If you write: the students are eighteen years old , you don’t need hyphens.

Now, the second compound in that clip was twenty-two.

And the rule is: always use hyphens in numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine .

Twenty hyphen one (twenty-one). Two hundred and ninety hyphen nine (two hundred and ninety-nine).

Good. Now the last compound adjective we had there was last-minute. The students were going to make a last-minute decision.

And that’s the adjective last plus the noun minute , joined with a hyphen. Now for another clip. Listen out for some more compound adjectives.

A sizable group say today’s politicians are not well respected and their attitudes are out of date.

Well respected. That’s an adverb, well , and the past participle of a verb, respected . And together, they make an adjective, and the two parts of the adjective need a hyphen when we write them before a noun.

So it’s a well-respected politician , with a hyphen: well hyphen respected politician (well-respected politician).

Yes. But in a phrase like the politicians were well respected we don’t use a hyphen, because the adjective comes after the noun, not before. And that rule is the same for three-word compound adjectives like out-of-date .

So, the phrase out-of-date attitudes has hyphens because the adjective is before the noun, but the phrase their attitudes are out of date doesn’t have hyphens.

Exactly. And one last rule is that we never use hyphens in compound adjectives that have an adverb which ends in -l-y .

No, we don’t. So in phrases like a carefully written letter we don’t use hyphens.

Now let’s talk about compound nouns . In our clip, Brian was reporting from a secondary school. The phrase secondary school is a compound noun - and there’s no hyphen in it.

No, there isn’t. Most compound nouns are written as two separate words.

If you’re not sure, check in a good dictionary.

6 Minute Vocabulary from the BBC.

And it’s time for a quiz! Number one: What’s the compound adjective in this sentence and does it need a hyphen? We were late because of the slow-moving traffic.

Slow-moving is the compound adjective, and it needs a hyphen.

Very good! And number two. Is there a hyphen in a forty-mile run ?

Yes, there is. Forty hyphen mile run (forty-mile run) .

Number three: The teacher was very well liked . Is there a hyphen in well liked ?

We don’t need a hyphen there.

Well done if you got those right. And before we go, here’s a vocabulary tip. When you are reading, make a note of compound adjectives and nouns with - and without - hyphens. Keep a list and check it regularly.

Yes. There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Bye! Bye!