Fractions Two-thirds, five-and-a-half hours, one and three-quarters Prefixes, but not always (check Macquarie Ex-president, co-author (but coordinate and dictionary for style) cooperate) Prefix followed by a capital letter Pre-Christian era, un-Australian behaviour Two-syllable prefixes ending in a vowel other Anti-aircraft, semi-official than followed by a vowel ‘o’, Compound nouns with a preposition The car was a write-off. The thieves’ hang-out was deserted But phrasal—‘two need the word’—verbs don’t hyphen (e.g. write off the Let’s hang out; we’ll car) Last letter of a single-syllable prefix and the Re-educate (not reeducate), de-emphasise first letter of the word are the same vowel (not deemphasise) But and their ‘cooperate’, ‘coordinate’ derivatives are no longer hyphenated Avoiding confusion Re-covered (put a new cover on) vs. recovered (retrieved, got better), re-signed (signed again) vs. resigned (acquiescent, or left a position) When not to use hyphens Situation Example Two-syllable prefixes ending in Macrobiotic, radioactive, retrograde ‘o’ Two-syllable prefixes ending in a vowel other Antisocial, semilunar than followed by a consonant ‘o’, Two-syllable prefixes ending in a consonant Hyperlink, interactive Adverb–adjective combinations (mostly -ly Wholly owned subsidiary, newly appointed suffix) officer Well-known words unlikely to be Coordination, cooperation, ongoing, mispronounced and those now in common use repositioned, reallocate, prearrange, wellbeing, reprint, frontline, statewide, subheading, lifelong, biennial When describing a range [use an en dash] Read chapters 21–25. [Not: Read chapters 21–25.]
Fractions Two-thirds, five-and-a-half hours, one and three-quarters Prefixes, but not always (check Macquarie dictionary for style) Ex-president, co-author (but coordinate and cooperate) Prefix followed by a capital letter Pre-Christian era, un-Australian behaviour Two-syllable prefixes ending in a vowel other than ‘o’, followed by a vowel Anti-aircraft, semi-official Compound nouns with a preposition The car was a write-off. The thieves’ hang-out was deserted But phrasal—‘two word’—verbs don’t need the hyphen (e.g. Let’s hang out; we’ll write off the car) Last letter of a single-syllable prefix and the first letter of the word are the same vowel Re-educate (not reeducate), de-emphasise (not deemphasise) But ‘cooperate’, ‘coordinate’ and their derivatives are no longer hyphenated Avoiding confusion Re-covered (put a new cover on) vs. recovered (retrieved, got better), re-signed (signed again) vs. resigned (acquiescent, or left a position) When not to use hyphens Situation Example Two-syllable prefixes ending in ‘o’ Macrobiotic, radioactive, retrograde Two-syllable prefixes ending in a vowel other than ‘o’, followed by a consonant Antisocial, semilunar Two-syllable prefixes ending in a consonant Hyperlink, interactive Adverb–adjective combinations (mostly -ly suffix) Wholly owned subsidiary, newly appointed officer Well-known words unlikely to be mispronounced and those now in common use Coordination, cooperation, ongoing, repositioned, reallocate, prearrange, wellbeing, reprint, frontline, statewide, subheading, lifelong, biennial When describing a range [use an en dash] Read chapters 21–25. [Not: Read chapters 21–25.]
web-writing-and-style-guide.docx