Does anyone else ever feel confused about hyphens and when to use them? You may be deep into a paper for school when all of a sudden you're stumped. Is "longtime" supposed to have a dash in between "long" and "time"?
‣ One way to figure this out is to look in the dictionary. Your best bet is to use it how the dictionary is using it. 📖
‣ Another tip is to see if the compound words are trying to modify another word.
Ex. The plant-based diet helped her lose weight.
Here, "plant-based" is modifying "diet."
‣ For nouns and verbs, try to determine if the hyphen would help with clarity.
Ex. The red-hot politician shouted his frustrations to the crowd.
‣ Prefixes and suffixes are trickier. For the most part, you add 'em, unless it sounds too strange.
Ex. prefaced vs pre-1800's
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