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Usenet Posted 20 years ago
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Hyphenation in English?

Hello,
Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite arbitrary.

One word I saw divided in two different ways was "experiment". How would you divide "experiment" by a hyphen:
a) exper-iment
b) experi-ment ?
Just going by my feeling, I would say b) because it sound more "natural" when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is. Or is there any rule that would apply here?
Regards,
Peter
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite ... when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is.

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7 Answers
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite ... when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is. Or is there any rule that would apply here? Regards, Peter[/nq]
A hyphen is used when a word is too large to fit the line on a page. It's used in between syllables. In your example, I'd think either way wor
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite ... more "natural" when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is. Or is there any rule that would apply here?[/nq]
There are no hard and fast rules because there is no official body to make them. There are preferred ways of hyphenating, however, and the "Ox
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite arbitrary.[/nq]
I believe that's because most hyphenation is now done by computer programs either using rules or lists or a combination of them.

Yesterday in the Baltimore Examiner (a new newspaper) I saw Wilde Lake written across two lines as Wil
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English?[/nq]
Divide at an agreed-upon syllable boundary.
[nq:1]When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite arbitrary. One word I saw divided in two different ways was "experiment". How would you divide "experiment" by a hyphen: a) exper-iment b) experi-ment ?[/nq]
The dictionary says ex-per-i-ment,
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite ... more "natural" when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is. Or is there any rule that would apply here?[/nq]
I recall being taught in typing class that a word should not be divided before a single-letter syllable, so use "ex-periment" or "experi-ment"
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[nq:1]Hello, Are there any special hyphenation rules in English? When I read some English newspapers recently, the hyphenation seemed quite ... when spoken with a pause where the hyphen is. Or is there any rule that would apply here? Regards, Peter[/nq]
Experi-ment is better because it follows the natural division of the word, keeping the suffix separate. But the other alternative is acceptabl