"Half a spoon" or "half a teaspoon": how to write words correctly with half and half - Lifehacker

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Simple rules will help you choose the right option in just half a second.

The root "half-" can be written in three combinations - together, with a hyphen, or separately. In fact, there is nothing complicated here: look at the first letter of the word that comes after it, and sometimes also at the number of words.

1. "Sex-" in compound words is written together with nouns and ordinal numbers, which perform the function of nouns if they begin with a consonant letter. Moreover, the second part of a compound word is usually in the genitive case. An exception is words that begin with "l" (except for "half a liter" - it just needs to be written together).

Examples: "Half an hour", "half a meter", "half past five".

2. A hyphen should be put when the second part of a word begins with a consonant "l" or a vowel. It is also needed if there is a second hyphen in the attached part of the word, as well as when used with proper names.

Examples: “Half past ten”, “half of Moscow”, “half of the online conference”.

3. "Sex-" is written separately when there is an agreed definition between it and the noun. Simply put, if you attach this root to a phrase, you must write it separately, otherwise the meaning will be distorted.

Examples: “Half a teaspoon”, “half of the Moscow region”, “half of the cherry orchard”.

4. In general, everything is simple with "semi-" - always write it together.

Examples: "Peninsula", "half year", "half-woolen".