Compound Words
There are three forms of compound words:
| closed form, in which the words are joined together as if they were only one word. Examples: firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike, downtown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook; farmyard, playground, |
| the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old, mass-produced; |
| and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general. |
There is a reason for this.
As language evolves, changes follow a predictable pattern.
Words that tend to be compounded are usually nouns or adjectives that
join together to identify or describe a unique form or object.
They start out as open form compound words where two words combine to
describe a unique item such as a note book (or a book for writing notes).
Over time, the combination becomes an accepted term for that particular
object, and takes on a hyphen, indicating the combination of two ideas to
describe a third. Eventually, the hyphenated form evolves into the closed form
as the word becomes standardized in the language as a formal word with a formal
definition. As a result, there is
no pattern you can use to help you in spelling compound words.
The only sure way is to check in a dictionary.
However, there are a few rules that might help.
|
When
compound modifiers come before the noun, they are often be hyphenated.
However, when the same modifying words come after the noun, they are
not hyphenated. |
|
A
fifty-yard-wide field |
|
a
field fifty yards wide. |
|
A hyphen extends a direct relationship between the words |
|
A
fifty-yard-wide field |
|
a
field fifty yards wide. |
| Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives are often hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers. |
 | the highest-priced car |
| the shorter-term loan. |
| But not always: the most talented child |
| a highly rated school |
| a partially refunded ticket |
| publicly held securities. |
| A one-year-old baby, the baby is one year old |
| Brian is a six-year old, Brian is six years old |