Home stretch!

This workout, the fourth (and last) on hyphenating compounds, centers on the second half of section 3, “Compounds Formed with Specific Terms,” in our extended hyphenation table under paragraph 7.96 in CMOS 18.

Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study that part of the hyphenation table before answering the questions. (Workout 22, “Hyphens, Part 3a,” covers the first half of section 3.)

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual. (We also offer a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online.)

Note: Dictionaries and style guides sometimes disagree. These questions are designed to test your knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style, which prefers the dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com. Other style guides may follow a different dictionary.

Now updated to refer and link to the 18th edition.

Chicago Style Workout 23: Hyphens, Part 3b

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1. Adjective forms containing half are usually hyphenated before but not after the noun, although some permanent compounds are closed (per Merriam-Webster).

a half-finished meal
it was half finished
half asleep
halfway

True

False

2. Phrases formed with like are always hyphenated.

cat-like
a penitentiary-like institution
bell-like

True

False

3. Nouns formed with near are open; adjectival compounds are hyphenated.

in the near term
a near accident
a near-term proposal

True

False

4. Compounds formed with odd are always hyphenated.

a hundred-odd manuscripts
350-odd books

True

False

5. Noun forms containing old are hyphenated; adjective forms are hyphenated before a noun, open after.

a three-year-old
a three-year-old child
a child that is three years old

True

False

6. Compounds with on are sometimes closed, sometimes hyphenated, per Merriam-Webster.

online
onstage
on-screen

True

False

7. Noun and adjective compounds with self are hyphenated, with some exceptions.

self-restraint
self-conscious
unselfconscious

True

False

8. Compounds formed with step are always open except with grand and great.

step brother
step-granddaughter

True

False

9. Adjective and adverb compounds with style are hyphenated; noun forms are usually open.

dined family-style
sentence-style capitalization
we used sentence style for headings

True

False

10. Wide compounds are hyphenated both before and after a noun.

world-wide coverage
coverage city-wide
Chicago-wide
the poll was university-wide

True

False

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Photo: Courtesy CDC/Amanda Mills, acquired from Public Health Image Library.

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