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Little Girl Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Hyphenating Prefixes not Followed by Nouns

Hi, moderators!

Do you hyphenate adjectives including prefixes (such as non) if they are not followed by a noun. Style guides such as Associated Press suggest that you do not hyphenate compound adjectives if they are not followed by a noun. However, I do wonder if adjectives with prefixes (eg, non academic) should classify as 'compound' adjectives', for prefixes are not words.

I would like to know what Americans and the British both opine on this matter.

Thanks.
  

Top answer

"non academic" doesn't look right to me. The other two are both used. Search results suggest that the hyphenated form is more popular in BrE and the unhyphenated more popular in AmE.

— GPY

  • "non academic" doesn't look right to me.
  • The other two are both used.
  • Search results suggest that the hyphenated form is more popular in BrE and the unhyphenated more popular in AmE.
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8 Answers
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"non academic" doesn't look right to me. The other two are both used. Search results suggest that the hyphenated form is more popular in BrE and the unhyphenated more popular in AmE.
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I just found this page. They outright disapprove of its usage with a hyphen.
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Little GirlI just found this page.
Which page?
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Sorry. I forgot to insert the link.

Here it is:

http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/2805.htm
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Little GirlSorry. I forgot to insert the link.Here it is:http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/2805.htm
That is one American's opinion. It does not reflect common practice in the UK. It is also not difficult to find examp
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I see. On average, what percentage of Brits do you think may tend to use the unhyphenated form?
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Little GirlI see. On average, what percentage of Brits do you think may tend to use the unhyphenated form?
I have no idea, but here are the search results I referred to earlier:

AmE:
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That's helpful. Thank you so much.
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