Although there are rules for the use of punctuation marks, it is only with experience that you reach the stage when you can use them instinctively. This week we will push that process further by looking at some tricky punctuation marks. We will start with the hyphen.
The word hyphen comes from a Greek phrase which means 'together' or 'into one'.
It is used to link words, and a few examples will show us how important the hyphen is if we are to avoid misunderstandings.
If an advertisement says, 'The little used car', then the phrase could have either of two meanings. It could mean that the car has not been used very much, or that it is a small car that has been used by another person. The first meaning seems more likely and can be made clearer with a hyphen: 'The little-used car.'
How would you feel if someone estimated the number of people in your class as 'the 30 odd members of 9PG'. Does this mean that there are 30 pupils in the class who are all strange in some way or other? I doubt that this is what was intended. It is more likely the person was using the phrase '30 odd' to mean in the region of 30 people, or approximately 30. This could be made clear with a hyphen: 'the 30-odd members of 9PG'. The hyphen shows us that the word 'odd' belongs to the number and not the students.
The hyphen can also be used to hold together words that would look strange if written as compound words. For example, coat-tail rather than coattail; re-enter rather than reenter.