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Hyphens in compass points or directions

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Whether to put a hyphen in names of compass points or directions – south-eastern or southeastern, north-west or northwest, and so on – is a matter in which the differences between British and American practice are clear cut: the British insist on the hyphen whereas Americans insist on dropping it—with Europeans joining the British and Canadians joining the Americans. The following examples prove the point.

“In British English compass points are always hyphenated and in lower case, unless they are part of a proper name. So you would write south-east and Southeast Asia.”

     Training for Publishing, UK [1].

“Compass points. These are usually lower case and hyphenated: south-east, north-western”

     University College London [2]

“The quarters of the compass.  south-east(ern)  north-east(ern) . . . ”

     The Economist Style Guide [3]

“Compass points and directions. northeast, southwest, east-northeast . . . Closed in noun, adjective, and adverb forms unless three directions are combined, in which case a hyphen is used after the first.”

     The Chicago Manual of Style [4]

“Hyphenate after the first point when there are three points: north-northwest, south-southeast”

     Natural Resources Canada [5]

Compass points  north-east, south-west, etc

     CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research [6]  

 

[1] <www.train4publishing.co.uk/blogs/item/grammar-bites-hyphens>

[2] <www.ucl.ac.uk/cam/toolkits/>

[3] The Economist Style Guide, 10th edn (2011), p.79. London: Profile Books

[4] The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edn (2010), p. 375.

[5] www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/natural-hazard/landslides/author-guide/punctuation/7469>

[6] <http://writing-guidelines.web.cern.ch/entries/hyphens>

 

["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]


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