5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation

5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation 5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation 5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation By Mark Nichol Phrasal adjectives that consist of more than two words are often flawed in construction, perhaps because writers are hesitant to complicate a phrase with more than one hyphen. But hyphens are cheap and handy linking devices, and as these sentences show, their proper use enhances clarity. 1. â€Å"The high cost of the multi-million dollar catamarans caused many boats to drop out of the competition.† What, exactly, is a dollar catamaran, and what does it mean to describe it as multi-million? That’s the format of the question anyone who describes the cost of something should ask before considering such a sentence complete and correct. For one thing, the prefix multi-, like most prefixes, is almost invariably attached to another word without a hyphen (exception: if the other word begins with an i), but the resulting compound, multimillion, should be attached to dollar to modify what type of catamaran is under discussion: â€Å"The high cost of the multimillion-dollar catamarans caused many boats to drop out of the competition.† 2. â€Å"He met all the deadlines for the challenging four-week long assignment.† The error here is the same as the second one in the previous example the lack of a hyphen creates the impression that the last word in a phrasal adjective is itself modified by the preceding word or words. This sentence refers to a long assignment that is four weeks in nature. But long belongs with â€Å"four-week,† so it should be hyphenated to week to complete the phrase modifying assignment: â€Å"He met all the deadlines for the challenging four-week-long assignment.† 3. â€Å"The adviser some call the world’s second-most powerful man prefers to work behind the scenes. Second-most is a nonsensical modification of â€Å"powerful man.† Powerful is part of the ranking, so it should be part of the phrasal adjective: â€Å"The adviser some call the world’s second-most-powerful man prefers to work behind the scenes.† 4. â€Å"Listen to any song from our vast collection of twentieth and twenty-first century music.† This invitation refers to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, not century music of the twentieth and twenty-first. Twentieth is an elided form of twentieth-century, so it should be followed by a suspensive hyphen, and century should be attached to twenty-first with another hyphen: â€Å"Listen to any song from our vast collection of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music.† 5. â€Å"Business must be good for small-businessman John Smith.† Because businessman is a closed compound, this sentence requires a different solution but not â€Å"Business must be good for small-business-man John Smith.† Here, too, an appositive one or more words that rename something is mistaken for a phrasal adjective. For the sentence to work, the appositive must be reworded so that small and business can be hyphenated to modify just what John Smith is an owner of a small business: â€Å"Business must be good for small-business owner John Smith.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Good At, Good In, and Good With8 Writing Tips for BeginnersPreposition Review #1: Chance of vs. Chance for

Dead People Rule

Dead People Rule I write about dead people. And get paid. But I didn’t set out to write about dead people. Mitty Ann Medlin captured my attention at a local historic cemetery. She arrived in Texas in 1848, at the age of 18, in a covered wagon train from Missouri. She married here and died in childbirth in 1850. I was intrigued. I wanted to write her story. I researched. And researched more. Yet, I didn’t feel ready to write the book. But, as with most writing, it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing venture. Mitty Ann, and a Texas full moon, was the inspiration for a blog hop a few years ago. That blog led to a request from the city of Trophy Club for an article. Medlin Memories: Winds of Change appeared in Discover Trophy Club. A few months later, Guardian Angel Kids published Sarah’s Journey in their ezine. I chose Mitty’s younger sister, Sarah, to tell the story to a younger audience. Another month, Guardian Angel Kids ‘Aviation’ theme stumped me. Story ideas were fleeting. But †¦ I had a list of remarkable Texas women from another project. Katherine and Mary Stinson, two sisters, had numerous flying records in aviation’s early days. Sisters with Wings was born. I got paid again for writing about dead people. A set of 1934 quilt squares I acquired at a yard sale ten years ago filled another niche. The blocks had names embroidered on them. I discovered their origins a small, now nonexistent, town in Iowa. Calico Connections appeared as another children’s story. With some supplemental quilting information, the story was reborn as Doris’s Christmas Legacy for Quilters World. (A follow up about delivering the quilt squares to Iowa will appear in the Summer 2015 issue.) Queries are out to other publications, such as Our Iowa, and Iowan. Short stories were also submitted to Ladies Home Journal and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Writing about people from the past is more than

Miracles Stories Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Miracles Stories - Coursework Example In the case of the Bible it indicates the presence God. The early church told the miracle stories to one another to remind themselves of the signs that Jesus had shown them while he was still with them. This would in turn give them hope of better days to come. The early church was also being persecuted at the time, so telling the miracle stories reminded them that through the miracles they could defeat their enemies and spread the word as Christ had promised. There are four main different types of miracles that are shown in the gospels are; the signs of the kingdom, healing miracles, exorcisms and nature miracles. The sign of the kingdom is depicted in the life of Jesus Christ, who is the son of god born to humanity and lived like any other human. By coming to the humanity, Christ shows the presence of the kingdom of God. His resurrection and ascension also depicts the presence of the kingdom. Healing miracles are shown when Jesus heals the sick and raises the death for instance the story of Lazarus and many others who were healed. Exorcisms are miracles shown when Jesus drives away evil spirits that possess people, for instance, the evil spirit that was expelled into swines. Nature miracles are shown in the book of Matthew when Jesus rebuked a storm and it stopped just from the words spoken by Jesus. In the book of Luke chapter 8 from verse 41, there are the miracles of raising Jairus daughter and the healing of the woman with hemorrhage. As Jesus was coming Jairus came to him with information that his child was sick and asked him to accompany him to his house to heal the girl. As they were going the crowds were pressing on him and the woman with hemorrhage came and touched his cloth, and he felt power go away. On arrival to Jairus house they were informed that the girl had died, but Jesus said that he was asleep and went in and raised

Capital Resources TMA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Capital Resources TMA - Essay Example Capital may be of two types- fixed capital and working capital. Capital resource TMA (Turnaround Management Association) is an important concept in the area of Financial Management. TMA is an association which is non -profit making in nature, which lead to a turning point for the industrial development and implementation. In this concept, we are making an analysis of recent annual reports of Marks and Spencer plc and Debenhams plc for the year of 2007 and 2006. Marks and Spencer plc (M&S) is one of the largest retailers in food and clothing industry, having links through out the world. Debenham plc is also a retailer with a linkage of departmental stores. Marks and Spencer plc, one of the leading companies in the world is occupying an out standing business results per year. Taking in to account, the provisional results of company’s performance in the year 2006-2007, there is a growth in sales up to 11% and there by a corresponding increment in the adjusted profits before taxation, interim dividend etc. Similarly the company achieved progress in its major areas of retail trading also. During this period, the clothing industry achieves an increment of 10.1% and the rate of food industry goes up from 3.8% to 4% respectively. (Interim Results 2006/2007 2006). The growth rate in the investment sector is also drastic in nature. The major reason behind the success of M&S is treating their customers with good quality products and services. Business plan of the company is constant over a long period of time, but the competitors they are facing are varying. The company is also giving stress on for following the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other ethical behavior for the better running of business. As a result, the company is running well, and looking forward for further implementation to speed up their growth through their customers by keeping them for long. â€Å"Marks & Spencer Group Plc, the U.K.s biggest

International & Comparative Employment Relations Essay - 3

International & Comparative Employment Relations - Essay Example 57). These approaches have various effects on the labour standards. This paper analyses the approaches to regulating labour standards in a particular context of Multinational corporations (MNCs). Multinational corporations are business organizations that operate in at least one country apart from their home country. The paper will also consider the effectiveness of current approaches and their sustainability over the long-term. In response to the race to the bottom in labour standards the International Labour Organization decided to focus on what they thought had articulated as core labour standards. This led to a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which defined the fundamental rights of workers to be: freedom to associate and the right to collectively bargain to be recognized; illegalization of any type of compulsory or forced labour; abolition of underage labour; and illegalization of discrimination when it comes to occupation and employment (Weil & Mallo 2007, p. 799). International Labour Organization’s member states are supposed to make sure that these fundamental rights are promoted within their territories. This can be said to have been the beginning step toward making sure that the race to the bottom in labour standards is properly dealt with. However, there have been some concerns with regard to the ability of the International Labour’s ability to influence the regulation of labour standards. Despite the fact that the ILO is charged with the responsibility of setting international labour standards it has been observed that these role is in most cases educational, promotional, and normative (Williams & Williams 2014, p. 123). This is because they can only encourage member states to adopt the international labour standards that they propose. They can also be of assistance when it comes to the implementation of these labourstandards. Therefore, it should be noted that

Engineering Essays Implications For Engineers

Engineering Essays Implications For Engineers The balance of employment in civil engineering has moved from the public sector to the private sector. Discuss the implications for engineers in particular and society in general. Introduction Civil Engineering is that field of engineering that is involved in the design and construction of roads, bridges, dams, buildings and other public works (civil_engineering.bluerider.com). At some point in time, public facilities were the responsibility of the authority. The authority could have been the kingdom or a government. That is why civil engineers have traditionally been employed principally by the public sector. Everything was run by the government. So everything must be provided and constructed by the same government. Civil Engineering However, the field of engineering grew wider and wider over the years. The requirements of the public grew with the population and standard of living. This put increasing pressure on the government. At some point, it was difficult for the government to keep pace with the growing needs and aspirations of the nation. To meet those needs, more buildings and facilities had to be constructed and faster. That was only possible if an increasing number of civil engineers are employed. Managing that growing number of engineers would become taxing on a central government if it did not have a means of sharing that responsibility with the industrial world. At the same time, as the standard of living increased and industrialisation took place, a growing number of facilities were required by individual group of people such as factory owners. These factory owners were willing to pay an individual or a private company to build its factory provided it could build it to his requirements and in time. T hat is how civil engineers and other related workers started being employed by the private-run companies for private needs. Today, with an economy of this size, the government can only trace the general strategy of development. It cannot go into the details of what should be built for each individual. Construction sector therefore has become a primarily private trade where the buyers and the sellers are private. The government needs to employ just enough to regulate and control the standards. Status The repercussions of this drift from the public to the private sector are numerous for the engineer. The first and most important of all is the status and image of the engineer. Despite the fact that the job of the engineer has become increasingly difficult, the image and recognition of the engineer for the rest of the society has declined over the years. Teachers, doctors and lawyers are looked upon as noble professions because they are seen to serve the public interest directly. Engineers are no longer seen that way because they serve a client base that is private. So the modern engineer does not benefit the same respect of the public as his ancient counterpart. Societys View From the societys point of view, the engineer is a less trust-worthy person today because he is not directly controlled by the government. He is perceived as somebody who is working for money, and not somebody who is working in public service. Consequently, the pubic works are likely to be less reliable. The public eventually has to accept what is offered to him because he does not have a choice. There is no alternative on offer. Salary The engineer today has the possibility of getting a higher salary than before. Because he is paid according to the service he dispenses, the more he works or the better quality of work he delivers, the more he is likely to be paid. That is compared to the fact that as a government worker, the engineer would have received the same pay whether he builds one building or ten. However, this also means that the salary will be set by the market. One of the complaints of engineers today is that their salary does not reflect the level of work they perform. At a company level, it is easier to assign a share of the profit to a salesman because he has contributed to a certain amount of turnover. A manager can be associated with the amount of money his department or branch has made. But it is much more difficult to quantify the economic worth of an engineer because his output cannot be measured directly in monetary terms. That is why that despite the fact that the change from public to private se ctor gives the possibility for a better pay, that possibility is not materialised in reality for the majority of engineers today. Politics Governments are run by politicians and politicians have to take account of the perception of the public before taking harsh decisions. That is why traditionally, employment in the public sector is more secure than that in private sector. The government itself cannot be seen to create unemployment. So, one of the incidence of the shift form public to private sector for the engineer is that today, his job is less secure than before. Specialisation With the development of technology and the pursuit of knowledge, the field of civil engineering has become so vast now that a civil engineer cannot possibly know everything about the field. This has led to specialisation of trade. Today, a civil engineer can be either a structural engineer or a highway engineer or a geotechnical engineer or any one of the various facets of civil engineering. Efficiency Civil engineers and civil engineering companies can be said to be more efficient today than the days when civil works were done by public sector. Privatisation of construction work has led to faster construction work because now companies have to operate in a competitive market. Competition in construction has benefited mostly to the society because now, more facilities is constructed faster, at cheaper costs, and the end product is more attractive. So, one of the repercussions on the society at large is that it has benefited from a more efficient civil engineering industry. Conclusion The implications of the shift in the balance of employment in civil engineering from the public sector to the private sector to the engineer can be summarised in terms of change in salary structure, change in image, in type of job, job security among others. For the society, it is mainly a more efficient industry but with more doubtful reliability. References 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://civil_engineering.bluerider.com/wordsearch/civil_engineering Bibliography .  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, American Society of Civil Engineer, 1991 .  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tarsh, Jason, Graduate Shortages in Science and Engineering, Department of Employment, 1985

Food as Sign and Code :: Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz Semiotics Essays

Food as Sign and Code What do you think of when you see or smell your favorite food? On one hand the sight or smell of that food might trigger hunger, or even a memory of the last time you shared that meal with a loved one. The point is, the smell or sight of our favorite food would trigger a different thought or feeling in each of us. This is an example of Semiotics. Semiotics is defined as "anything that can stand for something else." Roland Barthes was one of Europe's most renowned theorists of semiology. Barthes believed that in order to generate a complete sign, there were two parts that have to work together. These two parts are known as the signifier and the signified. A good example of this is your favorite food you thought of earlier, it would act as a signifier, and the thought that came to your head when thinking of this food would act as the signified. Together they create a sign. This is just a simple example of a complete sign. In her book Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz describes the wide use of food as signs, and also as social codes. The reason foods are so useful as signs and social codes is because they are separable, easily adaptive to new environments, and it is not difficult to cook, or eat for that matter. Food is a major part of our daily lives, Not only for survival, but it plays a substantial social role in our lives. We will look deeper into the semiotics of food, how food is used as identity markers, and also the role that foods play in social change in our lives. First let us start with the semiotics of food. Food as Semiotics Food is very accessible. Therefore, it has been one of the top choices used in explaining semiotic theory. An important contributor to the semiotics of food is Mary Douglas. She applied her assumptions of semiotics of food as a social code. Douglas and her assistant generated a hierarchical description of the events when people take food. This description is listed below. 1. Food Event-- it is the most general; it refers to an occasion when food is taken, without prejudice as to whether it constitutes a meal or not. 2. Structured Events-- this refers to social occasions that have been thoroughly organized.