5 Cases of Extraneous Hyphenation with Numbers

5 Cases of Extraneous Hyphenation with Numbers 5 Cases of Extraneous Hyphenation with Numbers 5 Cases of Extraneous Hyphenation with Numbers By Mark Nichol The combination of numbers, spelled out or in numerical form, and hyphens is a volatile mixture that often confuses writers. Here are five sentences in which hyphens are erroneously inserted into constructions that do not require them, with explanations and corrections. 1. â€Å"Four-percent of adults may have ADHD.† There’s no reason to combine four and percent. The writer might have incorrectly extrapolated from the use of fractions in the same type of construction (â€Å"One-third of respondents agree with the statement†), but the sentence should read, â€Å"Four percent of adults may have ADHD.† 2. â€Å"Astronomers say an object five-times bigger than Jupiter is the first planet outside our solar system to be imaged.† The reference to the exoplanet’s magnitude of size in comparison to Jupiter requires no linking hyphen. The misunderstanding perhaps arises from the fact that â€Å"five times† modifies bigger, but bigger is an adjective, not a noun, and words combining to modify adjectives are not hyphenated. The correct form is â€Å"Astronomers say an object five times bigger than Jupiter is the first planet outside our solar system to be imaged.† 3. â€Å"This monk began his vow not to speak with a 2-1/2 year walk up the coast.† Writers often erroneously insert a hyphen between a whole number and a fraction in a mixed fraction. It’s not necessary, but it is required between the mixed fraction and the noun that follows when they combine to modify another noun, as in this example: â€Å"This monk began his vow not to speak by taking a 2 1/2-year walk up the coast.† (2 1/2 is considered a single element, so omit the intervening hyphen.) Note, too, the slight revision to eliminate the suggestion that the monk conversed with a 2 1/2-year walk up the coast. 4. â€Å"The electrified border, 10-feet-high, is to be completed across the border with India.† If this sentence used the phrase â€Å"10 feet high† as a modifier preceding â€Å"electrified fence† (â€Å"a 10-foot-high electrified fence†), the hyphens linking the elements as a unified description would be valid. But in a simple reference to physical dimensions, no hyphens are necessary: â€Å"The electrified fence, 10 feet high, is to be completed across the border with India.† 5. â€Å"You must have a keen sense of how to capture the attention of the 18-34 year-old news junkie.† This sentence tries to observe the basic rule about connecting the numbers in a range (preferably with an en dash rather than a hyphen) but errs in its failure to recognize the special case of suspensive hyphenation that overrules that usage. The sentence refers to a demographic cohort consisting of 18-year-old news junkies and 34-year-old news junkies and all news junkies in between. When using a range involving a number compound, elide most of the first element, retaining only the number (spelled out or in numeral form) and a hyphen, followed by a letter space: â€Å"You must have a keen sense of how to capture the attention of the 18- to 34-year-old news junkie.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†Capitalization Rules for Names of Historical Periods and Movements20 Names of Body Parts and Elements and Their Figurative Meanings

The Younger Years of Grace Murray Hopper

The Younger Years of Grace Murray Hopper Computer programming pioneer Grace Murray Hopper was born on December 9, 1906, in New York City. Her childhood and early years contributed to her brilliant career but also showed how she was a typical kid in many ways. She was the oldest of three children. Her sister Mary was three years younger and her brother Roger was five years younger than Grace. She fondly recalled the happy summers playing typical childhood games together at a cottage on Lake Wentworth in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Still, she thought that she took the blame too often for mischief the children and their cousins got into on vacation. Once, she lost her swimming privileges for a week for instigating them to climb a tree. Besides playing outdoors, she also learned crafts such as needlepoint and cross-stitch. She enjoyed reading and learned to play the piano. Hopper liked to tinker with gadgets and find out how they worked. At age seven she was curious about how her alarm clocked worked. But when she took it apart, she was unable to put it back together. She continued taking apart seven alarm clocks, to the displeasure of her mother, who limited her to taking apart just one. Math Talent Runs in the Family Her father, Walter Fletcher Murray, and paternal grandfather were insurance brokers, a profession which makes use of statistics. Graces mother, Mary Campbell Van Horne Murray, loved math and went along on surveying trips with her father, John Van Horne, who was a senior civil engineer for the city of New York. While it wasnt proper at that time for a young lady to take an interest in math, she was allowed to study geometry but not algebra or trigonometry. It was acceptable to use math to keep household finances in order, but that was all. Mary learned to understand the familys finances because feared her husband would die from his health problems. He lived to be 75. Father Encourages Education Hopper credited her father for encouraging her to step beyond the usual feminine role, have ambition and get a good education. He wanted his girls to have the same opportunities as his boy. He wanted them to be self-sufficient since he wouldnt be able to leave them much of an inheritance. Grace Murray Hopper attended  private schools in New York City where the curriculum focused on teaching girls to be ladies. However, she was still able to play sports at school, including basketball, field hockey, and water polo. She wanted to enter Vassar College at age 16 but failed the Latin exam, She had to be a boarding student for a year until she was able to enter Vassar at age 17 in 1923. Entering the Navy Hopper was considered too old, at age 34, to join the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II. But as a mathematics professor, her skills were a critical need for the military. While Navy officials said she should serve as a civilian, she was determined to enlist. She took a leave of absence from her teaching position at Vassar and had to get a waiver because she was underweight for her height. With her determination, she was sworn into the U.S. Navy Reserve in December 1943. She would serve for 43 years. Her younger years shaped her path to the computer programming legacy for which she is famous. Later in life, after her time in the Navy, she invented the Mark I Computer with Howard Aiken. Her early math talent, her education, and her Navy experience all played a role in her eventual career. Source and Further Reading Elizabeth Dickason, Remembering Grace Murray Hopper: A Legend in Her Own Time, The Department of the Navy Information Technology Magazine, 27 June 2011.