Task 1 gives the letter of the right option as printed on the sheet. Task 2 lists the mistakes in the order they appear, with the correction. Task 3 and 4 answers are models, not the only acceptable wording: any answer that uses the rule the lesson taught should be credited.
MildTwo words, one describing job, glue them with a hyphen. Read it both ways to check.
1 · Tick the right one
a Ab Bc Ad AA = left option, B = right option
3 · Now you write
Model answers
Nonna is a well-known cook in our village.
We took a last-minute trip to the seaside.
I drew a man-eating shark. Without the hyphen, I drew a man eating shark, a man having shark for lunch.
4 · Help Polpetta
The sign goes wrong because without the hyphen the words come loose and it says a man is eating some shark. The hyphen glues man-eating into one describing job for the shark: man-eating shark.
2 · Find the 3 mistakes
1
well known chef
well-known chef
2
last minute deal
last-minute deal
3
man eating shark
man-eating shark
freshly baked is the decoy and is right: an -ly word never takes the hyphen.
MediumThe hyphen is glue, not decoration. Glue the pair that shares one job, and read both ways before you choose.
1 · Tick the right one
a Ab Bc Ad AA = left option, B = right option
3 · Now you write
Model answers
Twenty-odd people queued for the pizza, about twenty of them.
We must re-cover the torn sofa. The police found our stolen bike, so we could recover it.
Tick: A man-eating shark swam past., Twenty-odd people came to the party. · A man-eating shark is a shark that eats people. A man eating shark is a man having shark for dinner.
4 · Help Polpetta
As written the sign serves a man who is eating some shark, because man and eating are loose. The hyphen goes between man and eating, man-eating shark, so the two words share one job and describe the shark.
2 · Find the 4 mistakes
1
well known chef
well-known chef
2
last minute deal
last-minute deal
3
man eating shark
man-eating shark
4
Twenty odd customers
Twenty-odd customers
freshly baked is the decoy and is right. Twenty odd without the hyphen would mean twenty strange customers.
SpicyGlue the pair that shares one job before the noun, and never glue an -ly word. Read both ways, always.
1 · Tick the right one
a Ab Bc Bd AA = left option, B = right option
3 · Now you write
Model answers
We must re-cover the sofa, cover it again. We hope to recover the stolen bike, get it back.
She is a well-known chef. After the noun the words go loose: the chef is well known.
a little-used car, hardly driven, and a little used car, a small second-hand car. The café should print little-used.
4 · Help Polpetta
Two glues must come off: re-covered should be recovered because he got better, and freshly-cooked needs no hyphen because an -ly word already describes the next word. The one that changed his meaning is re-covered, which says he put a new cover on. Safe is not a rule: a hyphen only glues two words doing one describing job before a noun, so extra hyphens change the meaning or break the -ly rule. well-known chef is right and stays.
2 · Find the 6 mistakes
1
well known chef
well-known chef
2
freshly-baked
freshly baked
3
last minute deal
last-minute deal
4
man eating shark
man-eating shark
5
twenty odd customers
twenty-odd customers
6
recover it
re-cover it
little-used back room is the decoy and is right. recover it must become re-cover it because the sofa needs covering again, not getting back. freshly-baked is the -ly word that must lose its hyphen.