HYPHENATING

[Marla Sharp]

Post your questions on whether to hyphenate here. I know we should always check the dictionary first, but the dictionary doesn't have all combinations of compound words and crazy things like that.

[Brenda Rogers]

Looks good to me.

[Karen Margolis]

Thank you, thank you! You're the sweetest ... :)

[Brenda Rogers]

I usually run into the 20-minute 5-minute break . . . Let's GO already! lol

[Marla Sharp]

Does anyone hyphenate "board-certified" whether a noun comes after it or not? Example: "She is board-certified in neurology." I know it should be hyphenated when it's modifying a noun after it - "board-certified physician." But I'm wondering about the "word created for the occasion" rule, when words are placed out of order.

[Marla Sharp]

I found this on Wikipedia (I know, I know, we can't always trust Wikipedia):

Some strong examples of semantic changes caused by the placement of hyphens:
disease-causing poor nutrition, meaning poor nutrition that causes disease
disease causing poor nutrition, meaning a disease that causes poor nutrition
a man-eating shark is a shark that eats humans
a man eating shark is a man who is eating shark meat
a blue green sea is a contradiction
a blue-green sea is a sea whose colour is somewhere between blue and green
three-hundred-year old trees are trees that are 300 years old.
three hundred-year-old trees are three trees that are 100 years old.

Additional examples of proper use:
text-only document or the document is text-only
Detroit-based organization or the organization is Detroit-based
state-of-the-art product or the product is state-of-the-art (but The state of the art is very advanced. with no hyphen)
board-certified strategy or the strategy is board-certified

[Brenda Rogers]

Yes, hyphenate it even without the noun following.
Are you board-certified?
When were you board-certified?

I have B-FD defined with the hyphen. It's like full-time and part-time; so rarely is the hyphen not required that I just define them hyphenated and don't worry about them again.

[Marla Sharp]

I completely agree with you. I'm just having trouble finding a rule anywhere other than Wikipedia.

[Brenda Rogers]

board-cer·ti·fied (bôrdsûrt-fd, brd-) KEY

ADJECTIVE:

Having completed the process of board certification in a specialty field. Used chiefly of physicians: The hospital maintains a staff of board-certified surgeons and anesthesiologists.

That's from American Heritage.

Are you board-certified?
That's an adjective. There's your authority! :)

[Marla Sharp]

I looked for that at m-w.com (my favorite dictionary), but it didn't come up. I just went back again and searched for it but checked "medical" this time, and it came up! Yay! http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/board%20certified

Thanks, Brenda.

[Rhoda Collins]

I do that on full/part after you said something to me, Brenda, will go define this one the same, lol!!

[Karen Margolis]

Would you hyphenate "in service" in the following instances?

Q When you say "active equipment," is that the same as in-service for revenue purposes?
A In-service revenue. It goes into revenue service, I should say.

Thanks for your help!

[Brenda Rogers]

Yes.