User:Lesser Cartographies/hyphens

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To search for instances of "ad-hoc" and not return the article ad hoc, use
 * "ad-hoc" intitle:-"ad hoc" intitle:-"Ad-hoc"
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 * ex-officio

The chaos prevailing among writers or printers or both regarding the use of hyphens is discreditable to English education.

Mid
"Mid-1950s" or "Mid 1950s"? Answered here.

How to spell ad hoc correctly
1. The Economist style guide states the phrase should be written as two unhyphenated words "always".

2. Speaking to foreign phrases in general, Edward Johnson writing in The Handbook of Good English states:"It has to be a something-for-something deal requires hyphens for the modifying phrase, but It has to be a quid pro quo deal should have no hyphens. This holds true whether or not the writer chooses to italicize quid pro quo (see rule 3-23). By convention, the foreignness of the phrase is assumed to be enough to set it off as a unit."

3. Anne Stilman's Grammatically Correct lists "ad-hoc" as a "commonly mis-hyphenated compound."

4. Amy Einsohn's The Copyeditor's Handbook states, tersely, "ad hoc (roman)."

5. The Merriam–Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors gives a more nuanced rule:"Compound adjectives composed of foreign words are not hyphenated when placed before a noun unless they are hyphenated in the foreign language itself. [As an example] 'an ad hoc committee'."

6. Punctuation at Work loses the nuance and states "Don't hyphenate foreign phrases used as adjectives" and recycles the "an ad hoc committee" example. However, the author continues by suggesting "More practical advice would be to write only in English." Missing the forest for the hyphens, perhaps.

7. "Do not hyphenate foreign words and phrases used as compound modifiers." per Guide to Technical Editing: Discussion, Dictionary and Exercises.

8. The Pocket Guide to APA Style files the phrase under "Special Cases&mdash;no hyphenation".

9. I'll let the final word go to The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage:"Do not hyphenate Latin phrases like ex officio, even in modifier form (ex officio chairman), or expressions like ex cathedra, ex dividend, ex parte or ex post facto.'"