"commonly used" or "commonly-used"?

Question

I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences:
'The term "birding" is of American origin; "birdwatching" is the commonly-used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.'
'The term "birding" is of American origin; "birdwatching" is the commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.'
Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?

Jerry Friedman

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
There's a to me obscure rule I never heard of until I participated here, which scornfully states that no one with an ounce of sense would put a hyphen after an adverb ending in "ly." A "half-eaten apple" is OK, but a "partly-eaten apple" is a no-no. Well, you can see I can't be neutral about such absurdity. I hunted a bit and found that it is in a couple of the style guides, and it's not pondial. But it's not in all of them, and, like the song says, that style guide was made for you and me.

If you and your friend are actually collaborating on something for publication, you could defer to them just because the rule they heard does exist, and you've got to get on with it. But let's put those hyphens in whatever other writing we can!

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
In America, adverbs ending in don't take hyphens. The Chicago Manual of style says their compounds, as in (its example) , are "always open." As for people who aren't birders, the word isn't in my MWCD9, but the pattern of nonned two-syllable words that are there shows that is what you want.

Usenet · Answer

In our last episode,
(Email Removed), the lovely and talented Jerry Friedman
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
Adverb in -ly + past participle never takes the hyphen.

Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own ***. People should be very free with ***, they should draw the line at goats. Elton John

Usenet · Answer

jerry (Email Removed) (Jerry Friedman) wrote on 09 Jan 2004:
[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
I don't think the hyphen is necessary and my editor-self wouldn't add it to the second sentence. (American English)

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
If the first of two determiners applies to the second one, rather than to the noun, they are hyphenated to show this. Hence we write "green-eyed man" because it's the eyes that are green, not the man. The hyphenation is not necessary if there is no risk of ambiguity. Hence we can write "commonly used word" because "commonly" (unlike adverbs which double as adjectives, such as "well", "ill") cannot stand alone before a noun.

That's one point of view. The other is that "commonly-used" and "green-eyed" are spoken (and perhaps thought of) as if they are single words; hence they should be hyphenated.
As far as punctuation decisions go, it's finely balanced.

Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
[nq:1]In America, adverbs ending in don't take hyphens. The Chicago Manualof style says their compounds, as in (its example) ... nonned two-syllable words that are there shows that is what you want.[/nq]
CMoS? Yet another reason for me to oppose that religion. I understand CMoS was devised by the University of Chicago as instructions for its dissertation candidates to follow if they wished publication. There are other US publications style guides. In my school days, we were frequently referred to one put about by Modern Language Association.

I don't consider them appropriate for anyone who is writing informally and not for publication, i.e. on this newsgroup.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not in the following sentences: 'The term "birding" is of American ... American origin; "birdwatching" is the commonly used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.'[/nq]
The former is better.
the commonly-used word
BUT
the word is commonly used to mean twitching..

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not ... Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States.'[/nq]
[nq:1]The former is better. the commonly-used word BUT the word is commonly used to mean twitching..[/nq]
Oh, absolutely, I think all of us would agree that you wouldn't connect an adverb to a verb with a hyphen in such a sentence.

But just to be clear, the rule under discussion isn't talking about that. This rule, which is in some style manuals, forbids the hyphen in your first example "the commonly-used word," "the partly-eaten apple," "the newly-found planet." The hyphens look fine to *me*.

Somebody people will look back on such a silly rule with the amazement that is now used for bans on split infinitives and sentences ending with prepositions.

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

Donna Richoux filted:
[nq:1]Somebody people will look back on such a silly rule with the amazement that is now used for bans on split infinitives and sentences ending with prepositions.[/nq]
Ordinarily I'd just chalk it up to thinko and let it go, but that "somebody" really caught me this time...I haven't put my contact lenses in yet, and I actually read it as "somehody" and was on the verge of congratulating you for a clever coinage (and suggesting that "somehodie" would be a better spelling)..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm disagreeing with someone about the hyphen in or not ... non-birders in the United States.' Any thoughts? Any pondiality here?[/nq]
[nq:1]There's a to me obscure rule I never heard of until I participated here, which scornfully states that ... it's not in all of them, and, like the song says, that style guide was made for you and me.[/nq]
I certainly don't see any advantage to the hyphen; the sentence is just as clear without it. "Commonly-used" doesn't feel like one word to me, though apparently it does to Adrian Bailey or some people he knows.
[nq:1]If you and your friend are actually collaborating on something for publication, you could defer to them just because the rule they heard does exist, and you've got to get on with it. But let's put those hyphens in whatever other writing we can![/nq]
Jump back from those conclusions! This is for Wikipedia (I don't know whether that counts as "publication"), I'd never heard of the person before he edited the article, and he put the hyphen in I was considering removing it. However, there's little enough consensus, and Wikipedia contains so many blatant errors that I'm not going to bother with this one.
You're allowed to edit what and how you want at Wikipedia, but some things are frowned upon, and one is changing British to American usage or vice-versa. That's why I asked about pondiality.

By the way, I've been wasting a lot of time at Wikipedia, and many aue-ers might enjoy it too. You actually get to correct errors! And you don't need to sign up or anything, though it's encouraged. Of course, people can correct your corrections...

Jerry Friedman

"commonly used" or "commonly-used"?

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