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Hyphenating is a matter of choice and what makes a sentence clearer; rules about hyphens leave some room for a writer's own judgment. For example, the question, 'Is one half hyphenated?" could be read as, 'Is one-half hyphenated?", or 'Is one half-hyphenated....' (A half-hyphenated what?). It is an oversimplified example, but it doesn't take much to confuse. Another example, 'English language learners...'; is this people from England learning a language or learners of the English language. The use of a hyphen, makes it clear, 'English-language learners...'

The purpose of hyphenating is to overcome ambiguity.

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12y ago

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