Hyphens
Identify the compounds in the following sentences. All compounds have been treated as open compounds. Correct any compounds that this is incorrect for:
- Have you ever seen someone with such a stereo typical appearance?
- This is all publicly available information.
- I bought a new yellow orange skirt last week.
- One half of participants failed to complete the study.
Show Answer
- The compound should be a closed compound: stereotypical. Stereo is a prefix in this word.
- The compound should be open: publicly available. Even though the compound comes before the noun its modifying (information), we don’t use hyphens with –ly adverbs.
- The compound should be hyphenated yellow-orange. The compound adjective appears directly before the noun it modifies (skirt).
- The compound should be open: one half. It comes before the noun (participants) so one half should be open.