Grammar and Mechanics:

Hyphens

A hyphen is a punctuation mark that connects words.

Example: The peer-reviewed research suggested...

Example: As a fourth-grade teacher, I...

Example: Anderson (1998) tried to avoid face-to-face conflicts.

• Review APA 7, Sections 6.11 and 6.12 as well as Tables 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 for more detailed hyphen guidelines.

1. If a temporary compound can be misread.
   • “Adolescents resided in two parent homes” (APA 7, p. 162). For clarity, this can be rewritten as, “Adolescents resided in two-parent homes.”
2. When there is a compound with a participle (i.e., verb ending in –ed or –ing) that precedes the term it modifies
   • evidence-based practice
3. When an adjective-and-noun compound precedes the term it modifies
   • low-income families
4. When a compound has a number as the first element and the compound precedes the term it modifies
   • 10^th-grade students
5. When a fraction is used as an adjective
   • one-fourth minority
6. When two or more compound modifiers have a common base
   • long- and short-term memory
7. When the base word in the compound is capitalized
   • Likert-type scale
8. When the base word is a number
   • pre-2010
9. When the base word is an abbreviation
   • pre-CDC recommendation
10. When the base word is composed of more than one word
    • non-peer-reviewed research
11. When “self” is used as the compound
    • self-report
12.  When words could be misunderstood
    • re-pair (to pair again)
13. When the prefix ends and the base word begins with “a,” “i,” or “o”
    • meta-analysis
    • co-occur

1. When the compound follows the word it modifies.
   • Incorrect: The research was peer-reviewed.
   • Correct: The peer-reviewed research...
2. With compound adjectives when they cannot be misread or when their meaning is established (a permanent compound)
   • health care reform
3. With compounds including an adverb endling in “-ly”
   • widely distributed information
4. With compounds including a comparative or superlative
   • higher order learning
5. With chemical terms
   • biochemical oxygen demand
6. With Latin phrases use as adjectives or adverbs
   • post hoc test
7. With modifiers including a letter or numeral as the second element
   • Type II diabetes
8. With fractions used as nouns
   • three fourths of the participants
9. With prefixes “pre” and “re” when the base word begins with an “e”
   • preexisting
   • reexamine
10.  With most prefixes and suffixes.
    •   The unbiased study displayed multifaceted information about agoraphobia.

Here is a list of prefixes and suffixes that do not require hyphens (taken from APA 7, Table 6.2):

• able
• after
• anti
• bi
• cede/sede/ceed
• co
• cyber
• equi
• extra
• gram
• infra
• inter
• like
• macro
• mega
• meta
• meter
• micro
• mid
• mini
• multi
• non
• over
• phobia
• post
• pre
• pseudo
• quasi
• re
• semi
• socio
• sub
• super
• supra
• un
• under