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Last summer I attended the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research<\/a>. I was in Thomas Jones\u2019s class Writing and Publishing for Genealogists<\/em>. The class was well worth the money and I learned a lot about all things writing and editing in the world of genealogy.<\/p>\n One of the best tips I got was simple\u2014use a dictionary! For a moment I thought, \u201cwell isn\u2019t that obvious?\u201d Sure, I use it regularly to look up correct spellings and definitions. But as Dr. Jones went on, I realized just how useful a dictionary could be. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While there are many functions of a dictionary, there is one thing in particular I want to discuss. I personally struggle with the use of hyphens. It\u2019s not just me; as an editor, I see this as a problem for almost every one of my authors. Does a hyphen follow a prefix? When is a compound noun hyphenated? Fortunately, as I learned, the dictionary holds the answers.<\/p>\n For example, if you want to know how to use and construct words with certain prefixes, such as co-, non-, pre-, and re-, consult a current dictionary. In most cases, the use of a hyphen with a prefix has gone by the wayside, but there are some exceptions and the dictionary will guide you. Is it semiannual<\/em> or semi-annual<\/em>; nonessential<\/em> or non-essential<\/em>. What about antiinflammatory<\/em> or anti-inflammatory<\/em>? Before you commit, look them up.<\/p>\n What about certain nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs? Not sure if you\u2019re to use strikeout<\/em> or strike out<\/em>? What about write-up<\/em> and write up<\/em>? How about full-time<\/em> and full time<\/em>?Head to the dictionary to find the answer, because each is a correct form, but each has its own meaning and usage.<\/p>\n The Chicago Manual of Style<\/em>, which is typically the style manual used in our field, recommends \u201cWebster\u2019s Third New International Dictionary<\/em> and the latest edition of its chief abridgement Merriam-Webster\u2019s Collegiate Dictionary<\/em>\u201d (p. 350). I use the hardcopy<\/a> of the latter (11th edition). I also have an online subscription<\/a> that contains both the collegiate and the unabridged versions (among other options, such as the collegiate thesaurus).<\/p>\n Key takeaway: When in doubt, just look it up\u2014in a dictionary!<\/strong><\/p>\n This post contains affiliate links.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last summer I attended the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research. I was in Thomas Jones\u2019s class Writing and Publishing for Genealogists. The class was well worth the money and I learned a lot about all things writing and editing in the world of genealogy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,25,21,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-genblog","category-tips-resources","category-writing-your-way-to-the-past","cat-27-id","cat-25-id","cat-21-id","cat-17-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3HcLI-1te","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5656"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6073,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5656\/revisions\/6073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}My Ah-ha Moment<\/h6>\n
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