So here is a few rules of how to use a hyphen in the correct places. I know that this may not be the most complex thing of all but as I was looking through all the rules there were a few i never heard of using before so i thought it would be a useful thing to post.
1. Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:
a one-way street, chocolate-covered peanuts, well-known author
However, when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:
The peanuts were chocolate covered.The author was well known.
2. Use a hyphen with compound numbers:
forty-six, sixty-three, Our much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.
3. Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:
re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job)semi-independent (but semiconscious)shell-like (but childlike)
4. Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:
ex-husband, self-assured,mid-September, all-inclusive, mayor-elect, anti-American, T-shirt, pre-Civil War, mid-1980s
5. Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:
pref-er-ence, sell-ing, in-di-vid-u-al-ist
For line breaks, divide already hyphenated words only at the hyphen:
mass-producedself-conscious
For line breaks in words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root word is doubled before the suffix, hyphenate between the consonants; otherwise, hyphenate at the suffix itself:
plan-ning, run-ning, driv-ing, call-ing
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