It seems major newspaper editors aren’t immune from one of the most common errors I see from my corporate writing training students.
This was on the front page of today’s Daily Telegraph in Sydney:
Sydney's Daily Telegraph hyphen blunder
Can you see the problem? It’s confusing, because it’s unclear whether it’s saying two things, “New risk” and “Free pill”, or one thing, “New risk-free pill”.
That tiny hyphen makes all the difference.
It’s called a “compound” adjective, because the two words must be combined to get the intended meaning.
Here’s another example, from our “Get it Write” professional writing masterclass:
- small business advisor
- small-business advisor
In 1, the business advisor could be a dwarf. But with the hyphen in 2, it now means the person is an advisor to small business.
So watch your hyphens; they can really change your meaning and confuse your readers.
And whatever you do, don’t use a hyphen (-) when you really mean to use a dash (—). Here’s an easy explanation of the difference between hyphens and dashes.
