Hyphens

So I have never really used hyphens before , but I am noticing that they are becoming more used throughout my college experience so i might as well learn how and when to use them now. I have never used them because I didn't know where they belonged.

1. Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:
a one-way streetchocolate-covered peanutswell-known author
However, when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:
The peanuts were chocolate covered.The author was well known.
2. Use a hyphen with compound numbers:
forty-sixsixty-threeOur much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.
3. Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:
re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job)semi-independent (but semiconscious)shell-like (but childlike)
4. Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:
ex-husbandself-assuredmid-Septemberall-inclusivemayor-electanti-AmericanT-shirtpre-Civil Warmid-1980s
5. Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:
pref-er-encesell-ingin-di-vid-u-al-ist
For line breaks, divide already hyphenated words only at the hyphen:
mass-producedself-conscious
For line breaks in words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root word is doubled before the suffix, hyphenate between the consonants; otherwise, hyphenate at the suffix itself:
plan-ningrun-ningdriv-ingcall-ing
Never put the first or last letter of a word at the end or beginning of a line, and don't put two-letter suffixes at the beginning of a new line:
lovely (Do not separate to leave ly beginning a new line.)eval-u-ate (Separate only on either side of the u; do not leave the initial e- at the end of a line.)


This was found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_hyphen.html