This week it has been a joy to walk around and notice the leaves changing colors. Today I stopped to admire the trees lining my street, how orange and yellow leaves on some trees blend with the remaining green to create a mosaic of color in the bright blue sky. The crisp autumn air feels just right paired with those leaves.
It may be the lead-up to spooky season, of ghouls and monsters ready to pounce on trick-or-treaters, but it is also a season of apple pie and cozy sweaters, of trading in the sprinting pace of summer for the cozy comforts of fall.
One of my comforts this week is also the punchline to a corny joke (Why are all the numbers scared of 7?). That’s because section 7.89 is my go-to resource from the Chicago style manual when I’m checking whether to hyphenate a compound term. For instance, if a color is described in two words, do those words need to be hyphenated? It may depend on where the term is used in the sentence. I can wear an emerald-green sweater, but I’d say that the sweater is emerald green. “Emerald green” is hyphenated when it comes right before a noun, but it is left as two separate words when it is after a verb. This applies to a lot of compound terms. George Washington is on the one-dollar bill (hyphen), and this bill is worth one dollar (no hyphen).
Something else to consider with hyphen use is what the part of speech is. A compound noun may be two words, but then it needs a connecting hyphen when it is used as an adjective. If a class lasts a half hour, I can describe it as a half-hour class. If I like mountain climbing, I’d be considered a mountain-climbing enthusiast. That hyphen makes it clearer that the noun is being used as an adjective—that the reader should keep reading for the noun.
Those are my two favorite hyphen uses to remember. For everything else, I turn to 7.89 and look up the compound term and whether hyphens are recommended. It’s reassuring to see clearly written on the page that it is correct to say a ten-year-old (hyphenated noun) as well as a ten-year-old child (hyphenated adjective), but to omit the hyphens if I wanted to say a child is ten years old…and yet, all three individuals are likely to be eagerly awaiting their candy haul at the end of the month!
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