Compounds
Q. I work for a journal at a government agency. The departments and committees and journals within the agency all have varying styles, especially for hyphenation and compounds, which resulted in the following really ugly title: Influenza Vaccination of Health-Care Personnel: Recommendations of the Healthcare Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). It looked even worse in big, bold type. What should we have done? Answer »
Q. I am a primary teacher. I am currently teaching about compound words and have discovered that I am making errors. Some words that I thought were compound are not. However, when I look them up in different sources or look at signs, they are written as both compounds or closed. Would you please tell me how I can find a list of compound words without looking up each word in the dictionary? Thank you. Answer »
Q. I am editing a language arts textbook. The client wants to describe the activity of astronauts as “moonwalking.” As in, “When the moonwalk was completed, the astronauts were able to return to the lunar module, which would then reconnect with the command module.” Webster’s 11th Collegiate’s only definition of the closed compound is the dance move made famous by Michael Jackson. Although they probably won’t let me change it, I’d like to know if my instincts are correct and this should read “moon walk.” Answer »
Q. I am editing a medical index using the “word-by-word” system, and having some trouble with hyphenated words. Some terms, like “non-ionic,” feature a hyphenated word that is not a compound word. Does “non-ionic” come before “nonclostridial?” Also, do hyphenated compound words like “arterial-gas” come before or after a non-hyphenated compound word like “arterial oxygen?” Thanks—this is giving me a headache! Answer »
Q. I am a consultant in the information systems industry. I am aware that the common utilization of technical tools has widely affected formal English grammar. One of the challenges I face when presenting my analysis to clients is the proper use of compounds. For example, “filesystem,” which I understand from research is not properly one word, but I see elsewhere that “hardware” and “software” are. I believe these latter are compounds simply by the fact of their commonality in day-to-day conversation. Am I simply waiting for the day that “file system” will be part of normal vernacular and blessed by CMOS to be “filesystems”? Can you clear up my confusion? Answer »
Q. With words such as “PowerPoint,” the capital letters are retained when the words are melded. Is there a label for this category of words? Answer »
Q. I have an online content editor who says “mental health official” should be hyphenated: e.g., “he placed three county mental-health officials on administrative leave.” As a mental health professional, I say no. What say you? Answer »
Q. I noticed that, in your answer to a question regarding the spelling of health care vs. health-care vs. healthcare, you state the following: Answer »
Q. What style do you recommend for the words “health care,” two words or one? If two words are preferred, do you hyphenate it when it appears as an adjective, as in health-care company? Thanks. Answer »
Q. I haven’t paid much attention to style until recently when I had to begin doing some editing of copy again. Now I find that “copyeditor” is one word. What about people who edit books? Are they bookeditors? What about newspaper editors? Are they newspapereditors? Please justify. Thanks from Ice Age copy editor. Answer »
Q. There’s a club for people who’ve worked at my office for twenty-five or more years. It is called the Twenty-Five Year Club. I am wondering why they never added a hyphen between “five” and “year” and also if it’s okay to retain the capital letters for all the words that are hyphenated. I don’t want to rock the boat around here for a club that’s been in existence longer than all of us have been in the Publications Office. We are preparing the program for their annual dinner and latest round of inductees. Should we let them retain their old name? Has this come up in other places? Answer »
