Below: It seems newspaper editors aren't immune from one of the most common errors I see from my corporate writing-training students. This was on the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph recently: 
Can you see the problem? It's confusing, because it's unclear whether it's saying two things, "New risk" and "Free pill", or one thing, "New risk-free pill". That tiny hyphen makes all the difference. It's called a "compound" adjective, because the two words must be combined to get the intended meaning. Here's another example, from our "Get it Write" professional writing masterclass:
In 1, the business advisor could be a dwarf. But with the hyphen in 2, it now means the person is an advisor to small business. So watch your hyphens; they can really change your meaning and confuse your readers. And whatever you do, don't use a hyphen (-) when you really mean to use a dash (—). Here's an easy explanation of the difference between hyphens and dashes. Have your say... |
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