Business Writing Grammar: Hyphens Explained
This one paragraph contains a business writing error. Find and correct it. David Ambers, Technology Director, is upset reports are not communicating value to executives. Error free writing is critical, if we want executives to understand the value of our initiatives. Additionally, reports need to be jargon-free.
Explanation:
There are actually two errors in this paragraph, both involving hyphens. Here is the corrected version:
David Ambers, Technology Director, is upset reports are not communicating value to executives. Error-free writing is critical, if we want executives to understand the value of our initiatives. Additionally, reports need to be jargon free.
Hyphens are very confusing, so the best approach is to look up a hypenated word in a dictionary or style guide. We can also fall back on this grammar rule to correctly hyphenate compound modifiers:
Hyphenate compound modifiers when they come before a noun, and don’t hyphenate them when they come after a noun.
In this example, “Error-free” needs a hyphen, since it is modifying the noun “writing.” The last two words, “jargon free” should not be hypenated, since they come after the noun “reports.”
You will find more detailed explanations of hyphens in this article, We Need Hyphens to be Complaint Free.
Learn More in This Course: Business Grammar: Error-Free Writing
