EXAMPLES.
“My household-gods plant a terrible fixed foot, and are not to be rooted up without blood.”—Lamb.
“The breezy call of incense-breathing morn.”—Gray.
REMARKS.
1. A compound word is formed by placing together two simple words.
2. Sometimes several words are connected together by hyphens; as, “He had a lively touch-and-go-away with him, very pleasant and engaging I admit.”—Wilkie Collins.
3. When a compound word comes into very general use, the hyphen is sometimes omitted; as, railroad, steamboat, bookstore.
4. To-day, to-night, to-morrow, should always be written with a hyphen.
5. When there is any doubt whether two words should be united by a hyphen or written as one word, some standard dictionary should be consulted. It will, however, be found that even dictionaries differ somewhat in the use and omission of the hyphen in compound words. In order to preserve some uniformity in spelling and in the formation of compound words, every writer should make either Webster or Worcester the final authority.
Rule II. Prefixes.—When a prefix ends in a vowel, and the word to which it is joined commences with a vowel, they should be separated by a hyphen.