9 sentences that need a hyphen

Sometimes, a hyphen is simply necessary for a sentence to read the way the writer intended. Check out these examples.

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I’ve written many times about my dislike of the hyphen, the most tedious of all punctuation marks. Hyphens connect words, prefixes and suffixes and are generally used to avoid ambiguity. But hyphens often confuse matters.

Unfortunately, a definitive collection of hyphenation rules does not exist. Rather, different style manuals and dictionaries prescribe different guidelines for its use.

However, there are certain instances where the need for a hyphen is obvious. Below are nine sentences that need hyphens for clarity.

1. Susan decided to resign her employment contract. Susan decided to re-sign her employment contract.

2. Jacob recovered the chair and made it look new. Jacob re-covered the chair and made it look new.

3. We were told a story about a man eating shark. We were told a story about a man-eating shark.

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