I eat between 7 and 10 pints of ice cream a month. (The hyphen cannot replace “and”. If you omit words at the end of the quoted sentence, the ALWD Guide and the Blue Book ask authors to insert an ellipse before the final punctuation of the sentence. Non-legal style guides differ in this regard. MLA complies with legal citation guidelines and requires ellipses. But the Chicago Manual of Style allows writers to omit ellipses. Here`s an example, also using Kennedy`s inaugural address: ABOUT AUTHOR Elizabeth Ruiz Frost teaches legal research and writing and other courses at the University of Oregon School of Law. The dash is less exciting than the dashboard because its role is quite insignificant. Hyphens follow the same rules as hyphens for their spacing, but they are only a little smaller than a dash (but larger than a hyphen). The dash deserves to be smaller, because it performs a main function – replace “to”. Hyphens are found between numbers most of the time, but sometimes words mean “high and included” in a range or range. Here are some examples: While the main function of a dash is to replace, a dash can also perform a more complicated replacement function.
A hyphen can also appear instead of a hyphen in a compound adjective if one of the elements is an open connection, or it can separate two hyphen connections, all defined above. Phew, it`s a full bite. The problem is that sentences with all these connections become quite convoluted, so instead of replacing hyphens with hyphens, some authors simply reformulate the sentence to avoid clutter altogether. This subtle little rule is best explained by examples. The school is open from August to June. (The hyphen cannot be replaced with “to” here.) Attend the most popular CLE seminar of all time. More than 215,000 people – including lawyers, judges, trainee lawyers and paralegals – have benefited since the early 1990s. You will learn the keys to professional writing and acquire simple techniques to make your letters, memos and letters more meaningful. Hyphens are likely to be used more often than hyphens. But as simple and ubiquitous as a hyphen may be, its correct use can become a bit confusing. The authors mainly use hyphens to create a compound term.
Compound terms consist of one or more words that are combined into a single term. Compound terms are divided into three categories. Some are closed compound words, such as library, online or on top of a mountain. Some are open connections, such as the Civil War and the Bar Exam. Neither closed nor open connections require a hyphen, so ignore them for now. In the third category, there are hyphen connections where two words are held together by a hyphen. Let`s take a closer look. This should not be read as a call to separate every sentence! The most troublesome hyphen error I see in the legal literature could very well be the excessive use of hyphens. First, hyphens are not necessary if the composite modifier begins with an adverb (usually a “-ly” word). For example, poorly formulated excuses do not need a hyphen between bad and formulated.
Second, using the compound modifiers mentioned above, sentences are separated by hyphens only because they precede the noun. If adjectives followed the noun, they would not need hyphens. If you use a hyphen to convey a range, it should never be used in a sentence that precedes words from or between the range. For example, the following examples are incorrect: A dash can also connect two connections with hyphens. Remember that hyphen connections consist of two or more words connected by a hyphen. Each hyphen connection has its own hyphen, and the two connections are connected by a hyphen. Separating two hyphen connections with a dash makes sense, otherwise there would be a seemingly endless series of hyphens. Here are some examples (the difference in line length is subtle, so look carefully): hyphens create a more painful pause for the reader than ordinary commas.
If you want to draw the reader`s attention to a part of a sentence that might otherwise be lost, try hyphens. But remember to use them sparingly. Because they are more painful for a reader, writing full of hyphens can seem choppy. If you disable this middle text with the dash, the text is highlighted in a way that commas may not have. An em hyphen can also be used to place text at the end of a sentence, creating the same dramatic effect: then, an em hyphen can replace the parentheses. But parentheses and hyphens serve almost opposite purposes, so they need to be used strategically. Parentheses indicate a page that is less important than the rest of the sentence. I tend to read parentheses like a text whispered under the writer`s breath. On the other hand, the hyphens underline the text. They demand the reader`s attention like a stab in the ribs. We`ll start with the open composite rule.
Let`s say you wanted to use log cabin as an adjective. Log house is an open connection because the adjective here (log) with its noun (cabin) is used to create a new noun. To describe a house inspired by a log cabin, you need to separate the open connection from the second (inspired) element with a dash instead of a hyphen. On the other hand, if you had simply written inspired by the cabin, the connection could be written with a hyphen. Here are some other examples: Rules for hyphens can be found in sections 6.78-6.81 of the Chicago Manual of Style. Hyphens, hyphens, and ellipses are everywhere in modern writing, from email to blogs to newspapers. I may sound a little crazy when I call them fashionable, but I think they might be trendy somehow! Unfortunately, many users do this wrong, although the rules are quite simple. Hyphens, hyphens, dashes, and ellipses serve all major purposes, although their purposes are limited. Use them as they were intended – to connect, clarify and strengthen.
And if a child asks you about walkie-talkies, buy them a Chicago Manual of Style instead. This will make her cry first, but she will be grateful in the long run. The hyphens distinguish the list from the rest of the sentence, making it clear that the weapon, light, and controls were the show of force. The commas in the first example are acceptable, but the sentence is less clear. In fact, the first sentence initially reads like a grammatically incorrect list that lacks parallelism. The second sentence does not pose such a problem. Hyphens can be used anywhere commas would trigger a sentence. They shouldn`t just be reserved for the lists in the middle of the sentence, although they are nicely dramatic there.
Here`s an example: A dash is a good little multitasking. The dash can replace commas, colons, and parentheses. A dash distinguishes the explanatory text from the rest of the sentence, but it does so in two entertaining ways that are worth using. First, it can increase the readability of a sentence. And second, it can reinforce an idea by creating additional emphasis. Finally, hyphens can replace a colon to create a dramatic effect such as Date Line. Using a hyphen instead of commas can improve the readability of a sentence, especially if the sentence contains other commas. Here`s a before and after that shows how em dashes can replace commas: You can distinguish a dash from its hyphen siblings because it`s the longest hyphen (and both are longer than a hyphen). Some style guides, such as the AP style manual, require space before and after the dash.
But other guides — the Chicago Manual of Style, for example — don`t include before or after spaces.
