hyphen

 Almost nothing can be said with finality about the hyphen. As Fowler says, "Its infinite variety defies description." Even the word for using a hyphen is contentious: some authorities hyphenate words, but others hyphen them. The principal function of the hyphen is to reduce the chances of ambiguity. Consider, for instance, the distinction between "the twenty-odd members of his cabinet" and "the twenty odd members of his cabinet." It is sometimes used to indicate pronunciation (de-ice), but not always (coalesce, reissue). Composite adjectives used before a noun are usually given hyphens ("a six-foot-high wall," "a four-inch rainfall"), but again, not always. Fowler cites "a balance-of-payments deficit" and Gowers "a first-class ticket," but in expressions such as these, where the words are frequently linked, the hyphens are no more necessary than they would be in "a real estate transaction" or "a post office strike." When the phrases are used adverbially, the use of hyphens is wrong, as here: "Mr. Conran, who will be fifty-years-old next month.. ." (Sunday Times). Mr. Conran will be fifty years old next month; he will then be a fifty-year-old man.

 In general, hyphens should be dispensed with when they are not necessary. One place where they are not required by sense but frequently occur anyway is with -ly adverbs, as in newly-elected and widely-held. Almost every authority suggests that they should be deleted in such constructions.