Understanding Basic Grammar

A Quick-Reference Guide

 

Hyphens are punctuation marks that add clarity to writing by linking two or more words together, creating a single unit.  Hyphens also link prefixes to a word, which causes a lot of confusion.  Unfortunately, there is no easy rule to remember which words use a hyphen after a prefix and which do not.  Looking up a confusing word in a dictionary or a stylebook is the only way to make sure words are correct.  However, you must identify the part of speech the word is first, because some words use a hyphen in one part of speech and not in another.  For example: follow-up uses a hyphen when it is used as a noun or an adjective, but it does not use a hyphen when it is a verb.  Again, this is another tricky part of the English language.

 

Hyphen Uses:

 

1. To form compound adjectives that come before noun:

          

           ► The three-woman team won the race.

             ► The rules are created on a case-by-case basis.

             ► The student received a well-deserved scholarship.

             ► She is a 25-year-old journalist. (only hyphenate this when it comes before                  the noun, never after)

 

             NOTE: As you can see, the hyphen brings together the modifiers and the              noun being modified to create a single unit, which will help to eliminate the              confusion.

 

2. To form compound nouns:

          

           ► He is the producer-director of the film.

             ► She is a great singer-song writer.

 

             NOTE: If you want to avoid this, substitute the hyphen for the word and.

 

3. To form compound numbers or separate digits:

 

           ► Two plus digit numbers: twenty-two, one thousand forty-four

             ► Fractions: three-sixteenths, three-fifths

             ► Zip Codes: 15705-2872     

           ► Page Numbers: Pages 5-23

 

4. To take the place of “to” or “until” when showing a range:

 

 

 

5. To separate a prefix and a noun:

 

 

 

          

 

CAUTION:

 

· In addition to making sure you identify what part of speech a word is to decide whether or not it’s hyphenated, also make sure the definition of the word fits the one you are trying to use.  Some words have completely different meanings with and without the hyphen.  For example, re-mark means to mark again and remark means a comment.

· Do not hyphenate one syllable words or one letter in front of a word.

· Do not hyphenate proper nouns.

· Do not hyphenate words that end in ly.

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

Slashes are fairly easy-to-understand punctuation marks that have very few functions to remember.

 

Slash Uses:

 

1. To show two choices:

          

           ► Each student should turn in his/her assignment at the end of class.

             ► After college students can attend graduate school and/or find a job.

 

 

             NOTE: Most of the time, sentences can be reworded to avoid using the              slash construction.

 

             For example:

            

             ► Students should turn in their assignments at the end of class.

 

 

2. To display fractions:

 

 

          

 

3. To separate the day, month and year in a date:

 

          

 

 

The dash is a punctuation mark that can perform some of the same functions as the colon and the comma. It is usually used for emphasis and is pretty easy to understand, with very few rules and exceptions.

 

             NOTE: To type a dash press the hyphen key twice.

 

 

Dash Uses:

 

1. After an introductory series of items:

 

           ► Teacher, minister, coach, father and husband — Mr. Jones was admired                  because of all these things during his life.

 

2. To close a sentence with a series of items:

 

           ► Mr. Jones was admired for living out many different roles — teacher,                         minister, coach, father and husband.

 

             NOTE: This function could also be preformed by a colon.

 

3. To set off appositive information or interruption:

 

           ► The class had a variety of students—12 freshman, five sophomores,                          eight juniors and one senior— which complicates the decision of how                       difficult the class should be made.

 

            

             NOTE: It is important to note here that there is no space between the words              and the dash. Also, the dash is important here because it eliminate confusion              that would exist if commas were used.

 

 

             ► The chapters assigned for next class—if you even plan on reading them—                 are 5-8.

 

4. To give credit for a quote:

 

           ► “This website took forever to create.”

                  —Laura Kingsbury

 

5. To add emphasis to the end of a sentence:

 

           ► Sam felt he had everything he needed to move to New York City in the                       fall except one thing — a job.