Page:U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual 2008.djvu/117

Compounding Rules Do not confuse a modifier with the word it modifies.


 * elderly clothesman
 * old-clothes man
 * competent shoemaker
 * wooden-shoe maker
 * field canning factory
 * tomato-canning factory
 * brave servicemen
 * service men and women
 * light blue hat (weight)
 * light-blue hat (color)
 * average taxpayer
 * income-tax payer
 * American flagship (military)
 * American-flagship
 * well-trained schoolteacher
 * elementary school teacher
 * preschool children (kindergarten)
 * pre-school children (before school)
 * rezoned wastesite
 * hazardous-waste site


 * but
 * common stockholder
 * stock ownership
 * small businessman
 * working men and women
 * steam powerplant site
 * meat packinghouse owner

Where two or more hyphenated compounds have a common basic element and this element is omitted in all but the last term, the hyphens are retained.


 * 2- to 3- and 4- to 5-ton trucks
 * 2- by 4-inch boards, but boards 2 to 6 inches wide
 * 8-, 10-, and 16-foot boards
 * 6.4-, 3.1-, and 2-percent pay raises
 * moss- and ivy-covered walls, not moss and ivy-covered walls
 * long- and short-term money rates, not long and short-term money rates

but twofold or threefold, not two or threefold
 * goat, sheep, and calf skins, not goat, sheep, and calfskins
 * intrastate and intracity, not intra-state and -city
 * American owned and managed companies
 * preoperative and postoperative examination

Do not use a hyphen in a unit modifier consisting of a foreign phrase.


 * ante bellum days
 * bona fide transaction
 * ex officio member
 * per capita tax
 * per diem employee
 * prima facie evidence

Do not print a hyphen in a unit modifier containing a letter or a numeral as its second element.


 * abstract B pages
 * article 3 provisions
 * class II railroad
 * grade A milk
 * point 4 program
 * ward D beds