Hyphens: Correct Usage Between Words

In my experience, usage of the hyphen both in formal and informal writing is often haphazard. Sure, it’s possible that your readers will not notice (or care) that your hyphenation is incorrect (or missing), but when it comes to writing in professional situations, your credibility may be at stake.

This Tips & Tricks post will focus on the correct usage of the hyphen when it’s placed in between two words.

Let’s examine some common hyphenation rules and examples to illustrate them:

1. Numbers:
• Compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine:
• The lady who lived in the house at the corner of my street was known to have twenty-three cats.
• Fractions:
• He was out of town on business for about one-fifth of each year.


2. Adjectives that come before a noun and operate as one modifier:
• The right-side window was broken.
• Jerry’s long-awaited promotion offer was given to him on Friday.


3. Compound nouns: In the case of compound nouns, it’s best to check a dictionary (or http://www.dictionary.com/) to see if a compound noun should be two separate words, one whole word (without a hyphen) or hyphenated.
• That new horror movie isn’t for the faint-hearted.
• I borrowed my mom’s hand-held blow dryer when I visited her for the weekend.


4. To provide clarity: In confusing sentences, a hyphen may be used to clarify words that should go together, even though the words are technically separate.
• My first grade school teacher was Mrs. Smith. or My first-grade school teacher was Mrs. Smith.
• I saw thirteen odd dogs. or I saw thirteen-odd dogs.


5. Between the repetition of a letter:
• Her sister lived on a co-op with several friends; they grew and shared produce on land they all owned.
• The snake re-emerged from the pool of mud, and Jake screamed.
• EXCEPTIONS: There are several exceptions to this. For instance, the words overrule and underrate should not be hyphenated.

Finding Your Active Voice

Grammatically speaking, writing in the passive voice is not wrong. However, it is important to know the difference between passive and active voice. The active voice tends to be more direct, which is necessary in business and professional writing. Knowing the difference between these two voices is important because “the habitual use of the active voice…makes for forcible writing” (The Element of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White).

In the active voice, the subject of the sentence acts. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted upon — the subject isn’t “doing” the action. Let’s look at a simple example:

(Active) I love you.
(Passive) You are loved by me.

In the first sentence (the active voice), “I” am the subject and “I” do the action (“love”). The second sentence isn’t as straightforward or direct. The subject of the sentence is “you” and “you” don’t do anything — “you” are the recipient of the action (“love”).

To clarify, let’s look at a few more examples:

(Active) Your letter of October 9, 2009 arrived today.
(Active) We received your letter of October 9, 2009 today.
(Passive) Your letter of October 9, 2009 was received by us today.

(Active) The “spell-check” feature makes correcting my spelling easier.
(Passive) Correcting my spelling is made easier with the “spell-check” feature.

(Active) The administrative assistant filed the report.
(Passive) The report was filed by the administrative assistant.

Tip: Nearly 100% of the time, the active voice uses fewer words than the passive voice. It is more direct and usually conveys a clearer message.

Remember that neither voice is grammatically incorrect. However, most business writing needs a clearer, more direct voice to convey a clear message, so use the active voice.

Exception: In instances when diplomacy and tact are necessary, the passive voice tends to sound softer. The passive voice works well to convey unpleasant news.

(Active) I find your work unsatisfactory.
(Passive) Your work has been found unsatisfactory.

That vs. Who

Many years ago, a teacher corrected an essay of mine. Since I can’t remember the exact topic of the essay, let’s say I was recounting a dream that I’d had:

“Then, I ran into the woman that had given me the exam.”

Whoops. My teacher crossed out “that” and replaced it with, “who.” In the margin, she wrote, “That refers to objects. Who refers to people.”

Since then, I’ve found myself catching others’ misuse of these two words.

While it’s come to my attention that the English language is actually very forgiving of instances when individuals (whether in writing or in speech) interchange that and who, conventional grammar rules do offer a clear (and easy to remember) distinction.

That refers to objects.

• I liked the shirt that fit me somewhat loosely.
• I applied to a school that was known for its Visual Art program.
• I trained the dog that knows how to “speak.”

Who refers to people.

• She became best friends with the girl who played with her first.
• I’m the one who taught the dog how to “speak.”
• He’s the guy who found my keys at the gym.

See also: That vs. Which.

Using Bad Badly or Using Badly Bad

Over the weekend I watched the movie Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (2005), staring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. In this movie the two main characters go back and forth correcting each others’ use of bad and badly in a humorous way. After Robert Downey Jr. tells Val Kilmer that he should say "sleep bad" not "sleep badly," Kilmer responses indignantly, saying “Who taught you grammar? Badly’s an adverb. Get out. Vanish.” This comedic exchange led me to this week’s Tips and Tricks topic: Using Bad Badly or Using Badly Bad.

Here’re the facts: it is correct to say you feel bad when expressing an emotion. Bad is an adjective that modifies the noun.

Saying “I feel badly” implies that there is something wrong with your sense of touch or something wrong with the way you feel. It’s like saying you don’t feel things correctly.

Badly is an adverb - it modifies a verb. When someone says “I feel badly,” the adverb badly modifies the verb (feel).

Think of it like this: would you say, “I feel madly” or “I feel sadly”? No, you’d say, “I feel mad” or “I feel sad.” It works the same with bad and badly.

This tip applies with all verbs that describe our senses (feel, taste, smell, etc.). For example:

• “I smell bad” means “I have an offensive odor.” / “I stink.”
• “I smell badly” means “My sense of smell doesn’t work correctly.”
• “That tastes bad” means “That doesn’t taste good.”
• “That tastes badly” means “That things sense of taste works incorrectly.”

Additionally, after most other verbs (excluding those that describe our senses), it is correct to use an adverb (such as badly). For example:

• “My review went badly.”
• “As a child, I behaved badly.”

Therefore, in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, Kilmer’s character is correct in saying “I sleep badly” because badly is an adverb and the verb (to sleep) does not describe the senses. Don’t worry, Robert Downey Jr. — it’s a common mistake.

Like vs. As

This week, let’s examine the confusion between like and as. The words are commonly misused in both speech and writing when comparisons are being made. The trick to determining which word should be used in a situation is to take note of what follows the word.

When making comparisons, the word like is a preposition. A preposition is a word that demonstrates the relationship of a noun to something else (for a detailed explanation about prepositions, please click here to visit English Grammar Revolution).

*Like should be used when a verb does not follow it.

For example:

• Jen was obviously angry and seemed to roar like a lion.
• At six months old, Evan looks just like his father.

*Like compares nouns but does not demonstrate equality. In the first example above, Jen is displaying a mannerism of a lion, but she is not a lion.

The word as should be used as a conjunction. A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases or sentences.

*As should be used when a phrase with a subject and a verb follows it.

For example:

• When Sara’s mother passed away, her Aunt Jeanine acted as her mother.
• When Clara is reading, it’s as though she is in another world.

*As compares clauses and demonstrates equality. In the first example above, Aunt Jeanine functions as (or, is “equal to”) Sara’s mother.

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The Continuing Drama of Lay and Lie

In last week’s Tips and Tricks, I began the discussion of the ever confusing lie vs. lay by focusing only on the present tense. Assuming we are all on the same page and up to speed with our present tenses, let’s muddy the water by shifting our attention to the past tense and the past participle tense.

(Remember, we are talking about lie as in “to recline” and lay as in “to put or place.” The present tense of lie is lie or lying. The present tense of lay is lay or laying.)

To begin the confusion, let’s look at the past tense of lie. The past tense of lie (to recline) is lay — as in “Yesterday afternoon, I lay on my bed for an hour.” Wait! Let me get this straight — the past tense of lie (to recline) is LAY? Yes, as confusing as it may be, lay is the past tense form of to lie (to recline).

The past participle tense (when we use have, has or had) of lie (to recline) is lain — as in “She has lain on the bed all day.”

Got it? Okay, moving on to the verb lay (to put or place):

The past tense of lay (to put or place) is laid — as in “Yesterday afternoon, I laid the folder on your desk.”

And the past participle tense (using have, has or had) of lay (to put or place) is also laid — as in “She had laid the revised proposal on her boss’s desk before leaving for the day.” Well, that is easier to remember because the past tense and the past participle tense are the same word — laid!

For quick reference, I’ve created a little chart to help you keep track of these tricky verbs:

Feel like you’ve got it down or want to see if you can remember which verb and tense is which? Test your knowledge of lie vs. lay in this quiz from GrammarBook.com.