SOLSC March 27: Is it two words, hyphenated, or oneword?

            I’m a semiretired copy editor, and it sometimes seems that I spend half my time looking up whether a term is two (or more) words, hyphenated, or one word. There are some rules (e.g., the third word in this post has a prefix—“semi”—and most style guides say that “semi” is always closed up, creating one word). But often, all we have to do is go to the dictionary.

            Today I looked up the following words and terms:

bandleader: yes, one word

heavy-handed: yes, hyphenated

dancefloor: no, two words (dance floor)

longsuffering: no, needs a hyphen (long-suffering)

anti-poverty: no, see above about prefixes (antipoverty)

out of reach recipes: okay, “out of reach” is not in the dictionary

behind-the-scenes look: okay, “behind-the-scenes” is in the dictionary

            There’s also the issue of adverbs and adjectives, and judgment calls. For instance, “bookstore” is one word in the dictionary. But what is a “used bookstore”? A bookstore that’s been used? or a bookstore for used books? Perhaps “used-book store” makes the meaning clear.

            But is the hyphen needed here? much-needed help? I don’t think so.

            And any adverb ending in –ly never needs to be connected to an adjective. Today I removed the hyphen from “overly-conversational.”

-------------------------------------

I’m participating in the 16th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 27 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!