There’s nothing wrong with hyphenating “multi-cultural.” There’s nothing wrong with not hyphenating “multicultural.” There’s nothing wrong with doing it both ways in a single document. But it’s very ...

Sometimes I think the people behind punctuation rules are co-conspirators in a plot to drive us insane. Then I realize they could be coconspirators. That’s when I know their plot has succeeded. Of all ...

The English language has a rich storehouse of words accumulated through different innovative methods. Adding prefixes to words, already in use, is one such method. A prefix is a type of affix attached ...

The opening chapter of the style guide deals with spellings and its last section with the use of the hyphen. Photo: AFP People who are learning English generally consider the dictionary their most ...

Don't read this column. Really. It's not like the other articles out there that impart knowledge. Instead, this one could leave you feeling like you know less than you did before you started reading.

Sometimes I think the people behind punctuation rules are co-conspirators in a plot to drive us insane. Then I realize they could be coconspirators. That's when I know their plot has succeeded. Of all ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. During the recent gathering of the American Copy Editors Society, a lot of “hyphen” jokes made the rounds. One was “Why we ...