Splitting hairs
March 18, 2006 4:58 AM Subscribe
What is the correct way to split words with a hyphen at the end of a line?
What are the definitive rules for splitting words at the end of a line for print publications? For instance:
uni-versity or un-iversity
pro-fessor or prof-essor
Are these correctly split?
re-sponse
pro-vides
with-out
learn-ing
con-tinously
chal-lenges
Are there exceptions to the rules? What about foreign language words? Why does Microsoft Word suck so much?
What are the definitive rules for splitting words at the end of a line for print publications? For instance:
uni-versity or un-iversity
pro-fessor or prof-essor
Are these correctly split?
re-sponse
pro-vides
with-out
learn-ing
con-tinously
chal-lenges
Are there exceptions to the rules? What about foreign language words? Why does Microsoft Word suck so much?
Best answer: uni-versity
prof-essor
re-sponse
pro-vides
with-out
learn-ing
con-tin-uously
chal-leng-es
These are just recommended line breaks, not showing every possible break. I usually try to keep single-letter syllables (the first i in un·i·ver·si·ty back up on the line before the hyphen break. Unfortunately there's no global rule -- you break after a syllable -- and you have to check a dictionary. I usually like the online Merriam-Webster's but it looks like there's an error (it had uni·ver·si·ty and not un·i·ver·si·ty). Could be human error as I just woke up, though.
Can't help you on why Word sucks so hard. Keep this in mind (there's more in Word Help):
1. On the Tools menu, click Hyphenation. If the Hyphenation command does not appear on the Tools menu, you may need to install the hyphenation tool.
2. Select the Automatically hyphenate document check box.
What are you working on? Could you use something more sophisticated, like Frame or InDesign?
posted by theredpen at 5:22 AM on March 18, 2006
prof-essor
re-sponse
pro-vides
with-out
learn-ing
con-tin-uously
chal-leng-es
These are just recommended line breaks, not showing every possible break. I usually try to keep single-letter syllables (the first i in un·i·ver·si·ty back up on the line before the hyphen break. Unfortunately there's no global rule -- you break after a syllable -- and you have to check a dictionary. I usually like the online Merriam-Webster's but it looks like there's an error (it had uni·ver·si·ty and not un·i·ver·si·ty). Could be human error as I just woke up, though.
Can't help you on why Word sucks so hard. Keep this in mind (there's more in Word Help):
1. On the Tools menu, click Hyphenation. If the Hyphenation command does not appear on the Tools menu, you may need to install the hyphenation tool.
2. Select the Automatically hyphenate document check box.
What are you working on? Could you use something more sophisticated, like Frame or InDesign?
posted by theredpen at 5:22 AM on March 18, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks disillusioned, but I find that reading texts with words split randomly is distracting, it also strikes me as unprofessional. I'm fairly certain that there have been rules developed to make it easier to read split words. I'm just unclear on exactly what those rules are.
Theredpen: I just translated a Guide for a University here in Spain and I've agreed to help them copyedit the whole thing. They sent me a .pdf file and I found some horrendous word splitting of my translated text. I assume they are using Microsoft Word. Or perhaps Quark Xpress. To tell you the truth I just don't know. Another possibility is that they are using a Spanish version of a program to split English words, which would account for the nonsensical word splitting. Your suggestions sound spot on. Thanks!
posted by sic at 5:26 AM on March 18, 2006
Theredpen: I just translated a Guide for a University here in Spain and I've agreed to help them copyedit the whole thing. They sent me a .pdf file and I found some horrendous word splitting of my translated text. I assume they are using Microsoft Word. Or perhaps Quark Xpress. To tell you the truth I just don't know. Another possibility is that they are using a Spanish version of a program to split English words, which would account for the nonsensical word splitting. Your suggestions sound spot on. Thanks!
posted by sic at 5:26 AM on March 18, 2006
Best answer: Here is an article on some of the things to be considered when hyphenating.
posted by grouse at 5:30 AM on March 18, 2006
posted by grouse at 5:30 AM on March 18, 2006
See also:
Wikipedia weighs in and links to the pedantry article grouse mentions for "human rules of thumb."
I totally agree that seemingly random breaks are hard to read and obnoxious.
posted by disillusioned at 5:39 AM on March 18, 2006
The APA Publication Manual, in fact, insists that you not break words at line-endings in any case, but that can lead to lines that are too brief and aesthetically unbalanced.(Source.)
The rules for hyphenating at line endings are so complicated that no one can be expected to keep track of them. If you're ever in a situation where you have to hyphenate at line-breaks, go to a dictionary—unless you can explain why you would break experience between the e and the r, that is, and then you can do whatever you want. Remember that if you adjust one line-break for aesthetic reasons, that may well affect subsequent line-breaks in the text.
Wikipedia weighs in and links to the pedantry article grouse mentions for "human rules of thumb."
I totally agree that seemingly random breaks are hard to read and obnoxious.
posted by disillusioned at 5:39 AM on March 18, 2006
Disillusioned is wrong, I think. I've worked in editing and there are a ton of rules to follow with word division.
The best thing for you to do is to go out and get a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style -- they have a whole chapter on word division that explains the basic rules.
posted by BackwardsCity at 5:40 AM on March 18, 2006
The best thing for you to do is to go out and get a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style -- they have a whole chapter on word division that explains the basic rules.
posted by BackwardsCity at 5:40 AM on March 18, 2006
Ugh, having to hand-edit a PDF is a pain -- manual look-up with a dictionary is probably going to be necessary. I agree with BackwardsCity about having the Chicago Manual around for help on rules beyond syllable breaks. Good luck.
posted by theredpen at 5:57 AM on March 18, 2006
posted by theredpen at 5:57 AM on March 18, 2006
BackwardsCity's right. But the two key ones are 1) Don't have two or fewer letters before or after the break (whatever Americans may tell you), 2) Don't break words with six letters or fewer.
Quark and Word break both these rules in their basic setup, so that needs changed. (Easy in Quark, don't know if it's possible in Word, but Word can't even properly justify so forget it for typesetting).
posted by bonaldi at 5:58 AM on March 18, 2006
Quark and Word break both these rules in their basic setup, so that needs changed. (Easy in Quark, don't know if it's possible in Word, but Word can't even properly justify so forget it for typesetting).
posted by bonaldi at 5:58 AM on March 18, 2006
Somewhere I still have a copy of a little yellow paperback that everybody used to use for word breaks, but I'm not sure where it is—probably somewhere near my old slide rules.
posted by languagehat at 9:03 AM on March 18, 2006
posted by languagehat at 9:03 AM on March 18, 2006
Okay -- first, you need to ask yourself what the genre of the document you are writing is. Newspapers have different hypenating rules than novels, etc. Second, you need to determine the style-guide for that genre of document, or the style-guide of the organization you are writing for. MLA is different than Chicago is different than APA is different than MSN on-line's style sheet. Depending on what it is that you are writing and who you are writing it for, everyone who has responded could be right, or wrong.
It also matters what layout you are using, i.e. whether you are left justifying text, centering, etc.
posted by mrmojoflying at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2006
It also matters what layout you are using, i.e. whether you are left justifying text, centering, etc.
posted by mrmojoflying at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2006
I would say u.ni.ver.si.ty, theredpen. "yoo ni" sounds better than "yoon ih".
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:03 AM on March 18, 2006
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:03 AM on March 18, 2006
The APA Publication Manual, in fact, insists that you not break words at line-endings in any case, but that can lead to lines that are too brief and aesthetically unbalanced.
Well, the APA Publication Manual also specifies double-spaced copy with footnotes, tables and figures included at the end of the manuscript. The APA publication guides are not about producing beautiful copy, just standardized copy that can be produced with an electric typewriter including plenty of blank space for proofreader's marks. The task of actually getting the text to fit onto journal or book pages with good typography is left to the page designer.
Hyphenation at the end of a line adds some ambiguity for an editor. Is that highly technical term hyphenated because it's 20 characters long at the end a line? Should it not be hyphenated if it is moved to the middle of a line?
on preview: While I think that most style guides are helpful, most of them are geared towards the production of draft manuscripts for submission rather than creating or editing final page layouts.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:31 AM on March 18, 2006
Well, the APA Publication Manual also specifies double-spaced copy with footnotes, tables and figures included at the end of the manuscript. The APA publication guides are not about producing beautiful copy, just standardized copy that can be produced with an electric typewriter including plenty of blank space for proofreader's marks. The task of actually getting the text to fit onto journal or book pages with good typography is left to the page designer.
Hyphenation at the end of a line adds some ambiguity for an editor. Is that highly technical term hyphenated because it's 20 characters long at the end a line? Should it not be hyphenated if it is moved to the middle of a line?
on preview: While I think that most style guides are helpful, most of them are geared towards the production of draft manuscripts for submission rather than creating or editing final page layouts.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:31 AM on March 18, 2006
Strongly second bonaldi's tips. Something to keep in mind: (good) hyphenation is not merely about correct breaks, but clueing readers so that they progress smoothly from line to line.
posted by rob511 at 4:11 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by rob511 at 4:11 PM on March 18, 2006
Oh, I wasn't insisting that the "proper" way to do it was random, but just that I've observed random hyphens all over the place.
Which isn't at all helpful.
*shuts up
posted by disillusioned at 4:36 PM on March 18, 2006
Which isn't at all helpful.
*shuts up
posted by disillusioned at 4:36 PM on March 18, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Word allows you to turn off auto-hyphenating. I think.
Can't find it, since I'm in Word 2007.
As for at the end of the line, it's always been my experience that you simply let the hyphens land where they may. In a pinch, go off the syllables, but I've seen plenty of times where the word is just split wherever the line naturally ended.
posted by disillusioned at 5:16 AM on March 18, 2006