should be used to connect the numerals more nearly related. For a similar reason the hyphen should be used in the specification of numbered streets, as in Eighty-second Street or One-hundred-and- twenty-first Street. The hyphen makes the phrase awkward in appearance, but it is of real service, for by dictation the words Eighty-second Street might be misunderstood as Eighty (or 80) Second Street. Two numerals so connected as to express an amount that represents unity and not division, as twenty-seven, should always be compounded.
Compounds of half, quarter, eighth, etc., are usually conjoined by the hyphen, as
- eighth-barrel
- half-barrel
- half-crown
- half-dollar
- half-dozen
- half-holiday
- half-past
- half-witted
- half-yearly
- quarter-barrel
- quarter-day
- quarter-section
but quartermaster and headquarters are not.
Numerals of one syllable used before the suffix -fold, or with the words score, penny, and pence, are consolidated, as in
- fourfold
- fourpence
- fourscore
- halfpence
- halfpenny
- sixpence
- twelvepence
- twofold
- twopenny
but numerals of two syllables are made separate words, as in a hundred fold, twenty score, fifteen pence. When used as an adjective qualifier, as in fifteen-penny tax, the hyphen may be used.
