Grammar and Style/Mechanics and Punctuation/Quick Quiz

Hyphenation – Quick Quiz

1) Each of the following sentences features the use of none, one, or two hyphens. Which sentences feature the correct grammatical use of hyphens? For the incorrect ones, try to think where the corrections should be made (5 marks).

a) GEERing Up is a non profit organization that promotes science, engineering and technology to youth in the Greater Vancouver area.

b) Science-minded students from the University of British Columbia run the program.

c) Workshops are targeted at students of different ages and it is not uncommon to see six-year-olds enjoying themselves.

d) The intellectually-stimulating workshops enable students to gain experience in experiments and are designed to increase interest in science, engineering and technology.

e) The two-hour workshops are designed to give kids a taster, with the more comprehensive week long camps for older students.

2) There should be a total of three hyphens in the following two sentences. Place them where they should go (3 marks).

Although the workshops only last for two hours at a time, they feature many different fast paced activities to engage students. As well as trying to teach science, engineering and technology, GEERing Up’s mission is also to encourage students to develop social skills and adopt a happy go lucky approach to performing experiments; for this reason, curiosity is encouraged as much as academic success.

3i) Place one hyphen in the sentence below to give it a completely different (but still grammatically correct) meaning (1 mark).

a) In one of the activities, the volunteer showed students how to use a heavy metal detector to find coins in the soil.

3ii) Why does it matter whether this hyphen is or is not included (1 mark)?