Most of us working in the writing and publishing industry, or doing our proofreading course, have a pretty good grasp of spelling and grammar. It could almost (but shouldn’t) be taken for granted.
We are confident of our knowledge of key grammatical rules. Spotting someone’s error in writing ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ is second nature for someone doing a proofreading course.
But putting a hyphen in the right place can be problematic, particularly with new words emerging. For example, should it be ‘smartphone’, ‘smart phone’ or ‘smart-phone’?
Hyphens are often used in compound words, such as mother-in-law. ‘Smartphone’ is a compound word, but the hyphen rule isn’t applied here. It’s a neologism that has become an accepted part of the English language.
Compound adjectives are a little easier. You should hyphenate before the noun, such as ‘an over-the-top reaction’, but not after: ‘his reaction was over the top.’
Then we come onto phrasal verbs: verbs made up of a main verb and adverb or preposition. For example, you don’t hyphenate ‘to build up’. However, when it becomes a noun, it turns into ‘the build-up’.
This still makes it confusing when using more modern terms. For example, you ‘log in’ to a website, but you use your ‘login’ details to do so.
When you look into the subject, it is possible to find rules. As there are so many exceptions, and language evolves so quickly, the proofreader needs to remain on their toes at all times!
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