Writing Style Guide
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H
health care
Two words in all instances (per AP).
He’s pushing for health care reform.
H-E-B
Use H-E-B in reference to specific stores and for corporate offices.
HemisFair Park
Site of the 1968 World’s Fair, HemisFair ’68.
HemisFair Park Campus
In 2009, UTSA’s third campus, the Institute of Texan Cultures, was officially renamed the UTSA HemisFair Park Campus. The name of the museum remains The UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures.
Hill Country
high-speed Internet
Hispanic
homepage
One word, lowercased. This is the first, or front, page of a website.
hotspot/hot spot
Use one word when referring to an area where computer can connect wirelessly (Wi-Fi). Two words when referring to a popular place.
Go to the nearest hotspot to connect to the Internet.
The UC is the hot spot on campus.
hyphens
Refer to Webster’s 11th Edition to check for hyphenation. Also, Chicago’s 15th edition has a guide for hyphenation of compounds, combining forms and prefixes under section 7.90.
A compound modifier is usually hyphenated when it comes before the noun but not after it:
She directs their computer-assisted mail services. Almost all of our services are computer assisted. Those are graduate-level courses. That course is graduate level. He is a much-appreciated worker. His diligence is much appreciated.
EXCEPT when the first modifier ends in -ly:
- The highly organized administrative assistant was deeply respected.
- The strangely-dressed man appeared lost.
Modifying phrases containing numbers tend to be hyphenated before, but not after the noun:
a three-hour tour
a 150,000-square-foot building
a 5-year-old child
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the U.S.BUT The tour was more than three hours. The child is 5 years old.
However, when the modifying phrase involves money symbols or percentages, neither takes hyphens in any position:
a 9 percent increase in costs
$2.5 million gift
Use a suspended hyphen when a base word or a suffix or prefix is implied a second time:
second- and third-year law students
UTSA-owned and -operated computer store
on- or off-campus housing information
Use this construction even when, standing alone, the word would not be hyphenated:
macro- and microeconomics
EXCEPT when the first expression is ordinarily open:
applied linguistics and sociolinguistics
Many words beginning with common prefixes are not hyphenated.
extracurricular, interlibrary, midyear, minicomputer, multicultural, nondegree, postdoctoral, semicolon, socioeconomic
Generally, a hyphen is only used if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel.
pre-enrollment, re-evaluate
Two EXCEPTIONS:
Hyphenate words when no hyphen would make a word confusing, ambiguous or difficult to read:
co-op rather than coop anti-intellectual rather than antiintellectual
Hyphenate words when the second element of the word starts with a capital letter or precedes a hyphenated phrase:
pre-Columbian
non-degree-granting program(BUT nondegree)
mid-May
The prefix co- is hyphenated in words that indicate occupation or status. Otherwise, it is not hyphenated:
co-author, co-host cocurricular, coeducation
Hyphenate school grade designations as nouns and adjectives:
first-grader, 10th-grader, a fourth-grade pupil
BUT He is in the first grade.
Do not use a hyphen to designate dual heritage (an exception to AP style):
Mexican American students
African American