Comprehensive worksheet on using hyphens in English grammar, featuring activities to practice hyphenation in context.

Here’s the complete solution to all activities in your worksheet on Hyphens, with clear explanations.

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## ✔ Activity One: Insert hyphens in the correct place

Goal: Add hyphens where needed to join words for clarity, compound adjectives, or numbers.

1. John had to be home for the delivery for 10:30–12:30.
→ ✘ *No hyphen needed here.* This is a time range — use an en dash (–), not a hyphen. But since the worksheet focuses on hyphens and may accept it as a range separator, you could write 10:30-12:30 if instructed to use hyphens. However, technically, ranges use en dashes. For this worksheet’s level, “10:30-12:30” is acceptable.

2. Sarah was wearing lime-green sports leggings.
→ ✔ “Lime-green” is a compound adjective describing “sports leggings.” Hyphenate.

3. Hannah loves ice-cream.
→ ✔ “Ice-cream” is a compound noun. While sometimes written as one word (“ice cream”), when used as a compound modifier or in some styles, it’s hyphenated. Since the example in the guide says “Sugar-free,” we follow that pattern — so ice-cream is acceptable here.

4. Andrew has a three-year-old child.
→ ✔ “Three-year-old” is a compound adjective modifying “child.” Must be hyphenated.

5. People have to de-ice their cars when they have frozen over.
→ ✔ “De-ice” is a verb formed by prefixing “de-” to “ice.” Hyphenate to avoid confusion.

6. The abandoned house was full of moth-eaten curtains.
→ ✔ “Moth-eaten” is a compound adjective describing “curtains.” Hyphenate.

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## ✔ Activity Two: Circle the hyphenated word in each sentence

Goal: Identify which word in each sentence is correctly hyphenated.

1. Sarah had a hot-pink duvet. → ✔️ “hot-pink”

2. He re-sent the message as it failed to deliver. → ✔️ “re-sent” (prefix “re-” + “sent”)

3. The teacher had to de-escalate the tension on the playground. → ✔️ “de-escalate”

4. The class had a new student-teacher. → ✔️ “student-teacher” (compound noun)

5. There are twenty-five children attending the party. → ✔️ “twenty-five” (number between 21–99)

6. They need to co-operate to earn a treat. → ✔️ “co-operate” (some style guides prefer “cooperate,” but hyphenated form is still acceptable and common in British English; worksheet likely expects this)

> 📝 Note: In modern American English, “cooperate” and “reseat” are often written without hyphens, but for educational purposes at this level, the hyphenated forms are being taught as correct.

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## ✔ Activity Three: Match up the words that can be joined together using a hyphen

Goal: Pair words from left and right to form valid hyphenated compounds.

✔ Correct matches:

- sugar → free → sugar-free
- man → eating → man-eating
- close → up → close-up
- high → handed → high-handed
- empty → handed → ✘ Wait — “empty-handed” is correct! So:
- empty → handed → empty-handed
- high → handed → already used? No — let’s fix:

Actually, looking again — “high-handed” and “empty-handed” both exist!

So correct pairings:

- sugar — free → sugar-free
- man — eating → man-eating
- close — up → close-up
- high — handed → high-handed
- empty — handed → empty-handed

Wait — “handed” appears twice? That’s a mistake in the worksheet layout. Likely, “handed” should only be paired once. But since both “high-handed” and “empty-handed” are valid, and “life” is left… perhaps “close” goes with “up”, “high” with “handed”, “empty” with “handed”? That doesn’t work.

Let’s reassign logically:

Left column: sugar, man, close, high, empty
Right column: eating, life, handed, free, up

✔ Best matches:

- sugar — free → sugar-free
- man — eating → man-eating
- close — up → close-up
- high — handed → high-handed
- empty — handed → ✘ “handed” already used? Then maybe “empty — life”? No such word.

Ah — likely typo or misprint. Perhaps “empty — handed” is intended, and “high — handed” too — but only one “handed” listed.

Alternative: Maybe “high — life” → no. “empty — life” → no.

Best guess: The worksheet meant to include two “handed” entries or one is “hand” — but based on standard usage:

✔️ Final correct matches (assuming “handed” can be used twice or it's a layout error):

1. sugar — free → sugar-free
2. man — eating → man-eating
3. close — up → close-up
4. high — handed → high-handed
5. empty — handed → empty-handed

*(Note to student/teacher: “handed” appears only once in the right column — this may be an error. But both “high-handed” and “empty-handed” are real words.)*

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## ✔ Activity Four: Pick three hyphenated words and write a sentence using each accurately

Choose any three from Activity Three (or others you know).

Example Answers:

1) Sugar-free
→ *I bought sugar-free gum because I’m trying to cut down on sweets.*

2) Man-eating
→ *The documentary showed footage of a man-eating shark near the coast.*

3) Close-up
→ *The photographer took a close-up of the butterfly’s wings to capture the details.*

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## 🎯 Challenge: What is the difference between a hyphen and a dash? Create two sentences to show the difference.

✔ Answer:

> Hyphen (-): Used to join words or parts of words (e.g., compound adjectives like “well-known,” or prefixes like “re-enter”). It’s short and connects things.
>
> Dash (—): Longer than a hyphen (usually em dash). Used to separate or emphasize information within a sentence — like parentheses or a pause. It sets off extra info or shows interruption.

✍️ Example Sentences:

1. Using a hyphen:
→ *She wore a well-known designer dress to the gala.*
*(“Well-known” is a compound adjective modifying “designer dress.”)*

2. Using a dash:
→ *He finally arrived — three hours late — and apologized profusely.*
*(The dashes set off the extra detail “three hours late” — like parentheses.)*

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## 🧠 Summary of Key Rules from Worksheet:

- Use hyphens to join compound adjectives before nouns (e.g., *three-year-old child*).
- Use hyphens with numbers 21–99 (e.g., *twenty-five*).
- Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity (e.g., *man-eating shark* vs. *man eating shark*).
- Don’t use hyphens with plural ages (e.g., *five years old* — not hyphenated).
- Dashes (longer) are for separation or emphasis — not for joining words.

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✔ You’ve now completed the entire worksheet with correct answers and explanations! Let me know if you want printable answer keys or flashcards for review.