Hyphens

Question

I'm tutoring a foreign graduate student in computer science and we are in doubt when to hyphenate certain words.

In her paper she talks about " real user movements" (the real movements of mobile computer users.)

I told her to hyphenate it as "real user-movements" to indicate that "real" modifies both "user" and "movement". Am I right? And does "user movement" still need to be hyphenated when it isn't modified by an adjective?

How about: "I have studied the user movements on the college campus over a period of three months." ? Does it need to be hyphenated here?

Can someone clarify hyphenation rules for me?
I know that "a reckless car-owner" should be hyphenated, but how about: "many car owners neglect to change oil regularly" ?

Thanks!

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Inbox

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello Inbox

I would hyphenate some of your examples slightly differently:

1. real-user movements (because the phrase 'real user' is here used attributively, as an adjective).

2. user movement (I wouldn't hyphenate here either).

3. I have studied the user movements on the college campus over a period of three months. (Nor here.)

4. A reckless car owner.

5. Many car owners neglect etc.

As a general rule of thumb, I would hyphenate:

a) where there's a real chance of confusion ('a deep-blue lake', where 'deep blue' is a colour; a 'pink-spotted handkerchief', where the spots are pink);

b) where a phrase is used as an adjective ('a rule-of-thumb generalisation');

That said, there doesn't seem to be a standard practice among publishers or copy editors for hyphenation; and no doubt many posters will disagree with what I've written here!

MrP

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