A hyphen is a punctuation mark which we use to:
- Join two or more words to form a single word (right-handed or free-for-all)
- Change a verb phrase (I don’t want to hold up proceedings ) into a noun (This is a hold-up)
- Change a noun phrase (I have a date stamp on this form) into a verb (I date-stamped the envelope)
- Join a prefix ending in a vowel to another word to prevent confusion (co-opt)
- Join a prefix to a name or designation (Ex-wife)
- Prevent repeating a common word in a list (Two-, three- or four-member groups)
- Clarify meaning (Twenty-odd people attended the meeting)
- Help the reader understand the description attached to a noun (An up-to-date record or a well-known person)