Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/75



III

ORDS of variable spelling are rare in ordinary copy, but words that may be compounded are frequent. When to set up two meeting words as two words, when to consolidate them in one word, when to connect them with a hyphen, are problems that the compositor has to decide almost every hour. He finds it very difficult to get authoritative instruction. There are not many authors who compound words uniformly, and the dictionaries differ, and sometimes are not consistent in rendering words or phrases of similar class. Arm chair, arm-chair, armchair, are suitable illustrations. The proof-reader may overrule the teachings of the dictionary provided by the office as an authority, and may correct proof by some system of his own. The author may object to the