Hyphens

“FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT”

Common English Blunders, Hyphens, Nouns

I saw this on a sign in an office-building stairwell.

Problem:
A hyphen is missing.

Explanation:
When a noun plus a noun modify a third noun, the first and second nouns must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the third noun.

So the first noun “FIRE” plus the second noun “FIGHTING” must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the third noun “EQUIPMENT”.

Unfortunately, many sign makers drop hyphens because they believe that hyphens are unnecessary or make signs less attractive.

Although this isn’t the best example, there are many examples where the absence of a required hyphen leads to confusion and double- or triple-pass reading of a sign to understand what the sign writer meant.

Solution:
“FIRE-FIGHTING EQUIPMENT”

“LOW CALORIE HYDRATOR”

Adjectives, Hyphens, Nouns

I saw this during a Gatorade G2 television commercial.

Problem:
A hyphen is missing.

Explanation:
When an adjective plus a noun modify another noun, the adjective and first noun must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the second noun.

So the adjective “LOW” plus the first noun “CALORIE” must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the second noun “HYDRATOR”.

Unfortunately, many advertising copywriters believe that it is appropriate to drop required hyphens in their advertising copy. I disagree.

Although this is not the best example, there are many examples where the absence of a required hyphen leads to confusion and double- or triple-pass reading of copy to understand what the copywriter meant.

Solution:
“LOW-CALORIE HYDRATOR”

“A Revolution-ary Way to Grow Tomatoes”

Hyphens

I saw this product headline in a Gardener’s Supply catalog that my wife received a couple of days ago.

Problem:
The hyphen absolutely does not belong in this title.

Explanation:
This simply looks stupid.

The headline writer was trying to be clever by writing a traditional word (“Revolutionary”) in an untraditional way (“Revolution-ary”).

However, there were two problems with this attempt at cleverness:

  1. The product name — Gardener’s Revolution(TM) Planter — does not appear until the end of the second sentence of the paragraph beneath the headline, a sub-headline, and a “Gardener’s Supply Exclusive” label.
  2. Given that “Gardener’s Revolution” is tagged with a trademark (“TM”) symbol, common legal opinion advises against joining part of the trademark phrase (“Revolution”) with anything else (in this case, “-ary”).

In other words, the attempt to tie the concept “Revolutionary” with the product name “Gardener’s Revolution” by putting the oddly hyphenated word “Revolution-ary” in the headline is weak, and this attempt weakens future claims of trademark protection.

Solution:
“A Revolutionary Way to Grow Tomatoes”