Hyphens connect multiple words to make one word. They often have a significant impact on the meaning of the word. Sometimes they turn a verb phrase into a noun. Sometimes they connect several words to make an adjective. For example:
Set-Up
Set up is a verb phrase composed of the verb set and the adverb up. Up tells you in what direction the item was set.
Set-up is a noun phrase describing a thing that has been set up. For example:
He set up his stereo set-up.
Make-Up
Make up is composed of the verb make and the adverb up. You might make up a story or create something else.
Make-up is a noun describing a structure or composition.
The room’s make-up required the designer to make up a new color scheme.
Tear-Down
Tear down is a verb phrase composed of the verb tear and the adverb down. It tells in what direction the thing was torn.
A new usage of tear-down has slipped into the language from the real estate business. Brokers sometimes refer to a house as having great tear-down potential or referring to a house as a tear-down. These terms describe a house that could or should be demolished to make room for the sleeker, roomier, altogether more wonderful new house that the buyer has in mind.
We use hyphens to describe a person’s age:
A 40-year-old woman was once considered middle-aged.
Here the single adjective is 40-year-old.
Making New Meanings
Hyphens can also create new adjectives. For example:
A no point home equity loan is a frivolous use of credit. Why borrow money if you have no point?
A no-point home equity loan is a smart way to borrow money.
Man-made materials refers to substances that were not made from a natural source.
A good way to tell if a hyphen is necessary is to block out each word you might hyphenate and see if the phrase makes sense. For example, if you write man materials, you have written nonsense. If you write made materials, you have created gibberish again. What the words mean is one adjective: man-made materials.
In short, hyphens are handy little marks that enable you to customize your word combinations. Identify the purpose of your noun, adjective or phrase and you will know whether or not to set up your document with a strong word set-up.