Guidelines to compounds in BE: 1. Two words in a phrase are kept as separate words until they are become frequently treated as one unit, when they receive a hyphen or become one word (e.g. petroleum-related activities and high-speed racing used to be referred to as off-shore activities/racing¹ and have now developed into offshore activities/racing¹ in recent dictionaries. The original concept of a position off the coast or off shore¹ is still used and is written as two words).
2. If the first words in a phrase act as adjectives and describe the subject, hyphenation should be used to help the reader understand your meaning (e.g. a hot-air balloon¹ which may not mean the same as a hot balloon in the air¹). A large dictionary lists phrases such as state-of-the-art¹ twice, first as an adjective phrase (state-of-the-art concept¹) and as a noun phrase without hyphens (a concept that is state of the art¹).
3. If two or more words are used in a phrase where there may be ambiguity, a hyphen is to be used with care or there may be amusing results. One guide to the English language gives the example of a natural gas-producer¹, where a reader may understand this to be a person living in a natural state with questionable manners. Although natural gas¹ is not usually hyphenated, writing natural-gas producer¹ or natural-gas-producer¹ should be an unambiguous reference to a company like Statoil.
4. In conference proceedings etc., hyphens can distinguish between: the non-Norwegian-speakers¹ (those who do not speak Norwegian) and the non-Norwegian speakers¹ (those who are not Norwegian citizens).
5. Some words have to be hyphenated or they may be misunderstood. Compare: un-ionize¹ (removing ions) and unionize¹ (join a trade union), or re-cover¹ (cover again) and recover¹ (get well).
6. Hyphens are often used between a prefix and a following word with the same letter, so pre-exist¹ but not prefabricate¹. In BE, many do not use a hyphen in commonly-used words such as cooperate¹ and coordinate¹, but most writers would hyphenate the less usual co-opt¹.
Scotch/Scots
During the Cutty Sark regatta in Trondheim, Adresseavisen wrote on 24 July about the main sponsor: Cutty Sark Scots Whisky¹. I do not suppose that many teetotalling Scots read our local paper, but just for the record: Scots¹ refers to the people of Scotland, whereas Scotch¹, which sounds almost the same, is whisky.
Welch/welsh
Either welch¹ or welsh¹ may be used in the expression to welch/welsh on a debt/agreement¹. This means not pay a debt or to ignore a commitment. The spelling welch¹ is preferred as this is a useful way of avoiding making a negative reference to the Welsh: the people of Wales.
A young gentleman from Africa tried to capture the interest of the ladies of Norway with the following description of himself in a lonely hearts column: I have red eyes and a black, bushy hair¹ Dagbladet, July 1997.
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Ansvarlig redaktør: Informasjonsdirektør Kåre Kongsnes Teknisk ansvarlig: aina.berg@adm.ntnu.no Oppdatert: 27. Feb 1997 |