Q. I can’t find hyphen placement in ages, such as “fourteen-years old” in the Manual. And what about “years-old”? Is that correct?
A. There is no need for hyphens in “fourteen years old.” If you are using a phrase like that to modify another word or phrase, however, you need to bind it together with hyphens (a fourteen-year-old grudge). Likewise, use a hyphen if “years old” comes before the noun it modifies (a years-old phobia over wearing the wrong earrings), but leave it open if it follows the noun (the moldy accretion on her cell phone was years old). Finally, you will need hyphens when the phrase is used as a noun (enough pizza for three fourteen-year-olds). Please see CMOS 7.89.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Is “official-rate increases” hyphenated as written?
A. If the rate increases are official, you don’t need a hyphen. If the increases are hikes in the official
rate, use the hyphen. It’s possible that both descriptions are true, in which case you may officially
do as you please.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. “We are more than ready to analyze plan design changes.” For clarity would you
recommend inserting a hyphen between plan and design?
A. Yes, that’s a good solution, but perhaps not the best one. You have three words in a row that can be
read as verbs (plan, design, changes) following the actual verb. I would rewrite the sentence so these words read more clearly
as nouns: We are more than ready to analyze changes in the plan design.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Is it prework or pre-work (for work that is to be done before a meeting)?
A. Prework is a pretty silly concept, if you think about it. I mean, is it work or not? It would be like preeating. How about
calling it “preparation”?
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am copyediting a parent resource website and this comes up a lot. How do I hyphenate “this class
is for three- to four-year-olds”? Is that correct? I have seen it as: three-to-four year-olds.
A. Your first version is the right one. “Three-to-four year-olds” would mean three
or four children who are a year old.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In a scholarly book about popular culture, the author has used several -esque word endings, usually hyphenated. According
to CMOS instructions for the similar constructions of -wide, -like, and -borne, I would be inclined to remove the hyphen. But the
result is unsavory. Also, in the case of open compounds, should the -esque ending acquire an en dash? See the following: Tarantinoesque,
Skeeteresque, Gandalfesque, Billy Idolesque, Sid Vicious–like, John Paul–esque,
The Parallax View–esque.
A. Unsavory indeed. (Your list should appear on the book jacket—who wouldn’t want
to know what the pope is doing in the middle of all the carnage?) The rule is that unless the usage is self-consciously playful,
you may have two -esques per book (no hyphens), but only if they are at least a hundred pages apart. If they involve en dashes,
however, you get none.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’ve tried to Look It Up, and I know other people are curious about this question, too—some
of ’em can’t even sleep at night for worrying about it—so
I’m writing you, O Mighty Editors, to ask where do the hyphens go in the phrase “two
and a half times the price”???
Q. Is it: early-fourth-century-AD amphora? What is proper way to handle early fourth century AD amphora?
A. V-e-r-y carefully. (You were setting me up, right?) The way you’ve styled it is fine. In contexts that exclude mention of BC centuries, however, the “AD” could be taken for granted and omitted, and CMOS 7.87 permits the omission of the first hyphen.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When does one use hyphenation to break words? I already looked at the Manual and still have some questions. I have heard that when the text has a jagged right edge no hyphens should occur and when text is justified it is allowed. What about magazines, leaflets, fliers, catalogs? Can one be more liberal in these and if so is there some guideline on this?
A. These are mostly aesthetic judgments that we leave to a designer’s specification. Different publications might have different tolerances, depending on the look the designer wants to effect. Hyphenation is often necessary in ragged right justification (see CMOS 7.47: “Though hyphens are necessary far more often in justified text, word breaks may be needed in material with a ragged right-hand margin to avoid exceedingly uneven lines”). And Chicago specifications call for no more than three consecutive hyphens.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I work for a travel company and we are trying to figure out the proper way to write “eight-night stay.” I feel the number should be spelled out with a hyphen, while other people feel “8 night” is correct. I’ve been trying to find an answer in the style guide, but no luck. Thanks for the help.
A. Chicago style spells out numbers up to one hundred; see CMOS 9.2. Also see our hyphenation table, section 1: number + noun: a hundred-meter race, a 250-page book, a fifty-year project, a three-inch-high statuette, but it’s three inches high. Such compounds are hyphenated before a noun but otherwise open.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]