When you’re writing words like shake up, shape up or set up, do you ever wonder whether to use two words or combine them into one with a hyphen? Well, you’re not alone. Here’s a little rule to follow, use “shake up” when you need to use a verb and ”shake-up” as a noun or an adjective. Others that fit in a similar camp are:
Verb Noun or Adjective
shape up shape-up
speed up speedup
set up setup
sell out sellout
stand in stand-in
tie in tie-in
Of course, the English language often makes no sense at all. For example, “second hand” is a noun, while “secondhand” is an adjective or adverb.
So, remember, next time you shape up your house, set up a garage sale and get rid of all of that secondhand clothing…
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May 6th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Hello, fellow blogathoner! I mentioned this post yesterday on Cyclorati. Here’s the link:
http://cyclorati.com/2009/05/cinco-de-mayo-and-bicycle-law/
Look forward to more of your posts!