Compounding Rules
101
6.22.
Do not confuse a modifier with the word it modifies.
- elderly clothesman
- old-clothes man
- competent shoemaker
- wooden-shoe maker
- field canning factory
- tomato-canning factory
- brave servicemen
- service men and women
- light blue hat (weight)
- light-blue hat (color)
- average taxpayer
- income-tax payer
- American flagship (military)
- American-flagship
- well-trained schoolteacher
- elementary school teacher
- preschool children (kindergarten)
- pre-school children (before school)
- rezoned wastesite
- hazardous-waste site
- but
- common stockholder
- stock ownership
- small businessman
- working men and women
- steam powerplant site
- meat packinghouse owner
6.23.
Where two or more hyphenated compounds have a common basic element and this element is omitted in all but the last term, the hyphens are retained.
- 2- to 3- and 4- to 5-ton trucks
- 2- by 4-inch boards, but boards 2 to 6 inches wide
- 8-, 10-, and 16-foot boards
- 6.4-, 3.1-, and 2-percent pay raises
- moss- and ivy-covered walls, not moss and ivy-covered walls
- long- and short-term money rates, not long and short-term money rates
but twofold or threefold, not two or threefold
- goat, sheep, and calf skins, not goat, sheep, and calfskins
- intrastate and intracity, not intra-state and -city
- American owned and managed companies
- preoperative and postoperative examination
6.24.
Do not use a hyphen in a unit modifier consisting of a foreign phrase.
- ante bellum days
- bona fide transaction
- ex officio member
- per capita tax
- per diem employee
- prima facie evidence
6.25.
Do not print a hyphen in a unit modifier containing a letter or a numeral as its second element.
- abstract B pages
- article 3 provisions
- class II railroad
- grade A milk
- point 4 program
- ward D beds
