SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

olly.) This also avoids the minor risk of confusion between some nouns and adjectivessuch as junkie (addict) and junky (trashy); bushie (outback type) and bushy (thickly grown);hippie (flower child) and hippy (with wide hips). Consult the dictionary when in doubt.Compound (multi-part) nouns, verbs, adjectives and (occasionally) adverbsSee punctuation section for general style on hyphens. Expressions formed of two or morewords often evolve from separate words through hyphenation to one word. All three formsmay coexist.Noun child care, child-care, childcareVerb side swiped, side-swiped, sideswipedAdjective kind hearted, kind-hearted, kindheartedAdverb back handedly, back-handedly, backhandedly.The form may depend on where the pieces sit in the sentence: The childcare centre employschild-carers who know all about child care. But the hyphenated form is the least liked andoften the shortest-lived.Double-barrelled examples can progress quickly to one word, but the multi-barrelledseem rarely to make it out of hyphens, although adverbs such as nevertheless conceivablybegan as three words.Hyphens work well enough adjectivally when used in “a devil-may-care attitude” and “alive-and-let-live situation”, but beware the too-much-of-a-good-thing trap.Compounds beginning with over- and under- (including adverbs like overzealously andunderstatedly) generally are one word except for the rarities like over-religious.Say five-year-olds and six-year-olds instead of five- and six-year-olds, and likewise insimilar cases of back-to-back compounds.Compounds containing adverbs, like “heavily guarded fortress”, are adjectives.Cock-a-doodle-do can be a noun and a verb.It’s a multi-million-dollar Tattslotto win.Will-‘o-the-wisps often are ne’er –do-wells.Hyphenated prefixes (cooperate or co-operate?)It is still standard practice to use hyphens in words in which the prefix ends wit the sameletter as the first letter of the root word (re-enter, co-operate, co-ordinate, re-establish). Alsouse hyphens to distinguish between words of different meaning: re-bound (bound again),rebound (bounce back); resign (quit), re-sign (sign on again).1. semi (-):This takes a hyphen when it is part of a compound adjective preceding a noun: a semidetachedhouse; a semi-skilled worker. But there is no hyphen when it is used as an adverband appears after the noun: The house is semi detached; the worker is semi skilled. Same forill- and well-2. Compounds: semidarkness, semi-final, semi-finalist, semi-official and semi-trailer.Plurals of words ending with “o” (dingos or dingoes?)Of the several hundred nouns ending in “o”, only a few carry the “oes” plural – although manyare those most often used. When in doubt, consult the Macquarie Dictionary. Fowler offers somerules that are only generally true:UQ SJC STYLEBOOK 2012 – PAGE 20