English Language & Usage Asked on December 27, 2020
I am in a bit of a quandary over conflicting results in dictionary entries about the inclusion of a hyphen in some of the words containing the pseudo- prefix.
An example of one of these words is pseudoscience/pseudo-science.
The Oxford dictionary’s entry omits the hyphen for the word (i.e. they spell it as ‘pseudoscience’).
Meanwhile, Cambridge’s dictionary entry decides to place a hyphen between the prefix and ‘science’ (i.e. they spell it as ‘pseudo-science’).
Another example would be pseudo-intellectual/pseudointellectual. Oxford includes the hyphen; Dictionary.com does not.
I usually check more than one dictionary to see if a word with this prefix should be hyphenated or not. However, I am not sure which form to use in this case. Is there a way of determining which one?
Any help is much appreciated.
There is no general rule for hyphenation when creating compound words.
When in doubt, I look it up. If still unsure, I use a hyphen, as I won't be penalised for it. If still looks wrong with a hyphen, leave the hyphen out.
(native speaker, UK. See author Lynn Truss for style guidance on hyphens!)
Answered by OookLout on December 27, 2020
Get help from others!
Recent Answers
Recent Questions
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP