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A similar alternation is found in compound adjectives such as well intentioned.
When used predicatively (i.e. after the verb), such adjectives are unhyphenated, but
when used attributively (i.e. before the noun), they are hyphenated:
his remarks
were well intentioned
but
a well-intentioned remark
.
A general rule governing verb compounds means that, where a noun compound is
two words (e.g. beta test), any verb derived from it is normally hyphenated (to
beta-test:
the system was beta-tested
). Similarly, verbal nouns and adjectives are
more often hyphenated than ordinary noun or adjective compounds (e.g. glass-
making, nation-building).
Phrasal verbs such as ‘take off’, ‘take over’, and ‘set up’ are not hyphenated, but
nouns formed from phrasal verbs are hyphenated, or, increasingly, written as one
word:
the plane accelerated for take-off
;
a hostile takeover
;
he didn’t die
,
it was a
set-up
. There is an increasing tendency to hyphenate the verb form as well (
food
available to take-away
) but this is not good writing style and should be avoided.
Inflection
Compared with other European languages, English has comparatively few
inflections, and those that exist are remarkably regular. We add an -
s
to most nouns
to make a plural; we add
-ed
to most verbs to make a past tense or a past
participle, and
-ing
to make a present participle.
Occasionally, a difficulty arises: for example, a single consonant after a short
stressed vowel is doubled before adding
-ed
or
-ing
(hum, hums, humming,
hummed). In addition, words borrowed from other languages generally bring their
foreign inflections with them, causing problems for English speakers who are not
proficient in those languages.
In all such cases, guidance is given in the
Oxford Dictionary of English
. The main
areas covered are outlined below.
Verbs
The following forms are regarded as regular and are therefore not shown in the
dictionary:
• third person singular present forms adding -
s
to the stem (or
-es
to stems ending
in
-s
,
-x
,
-z
,
-sh
, or soft
-ch
), e.g. find
→
finds or change
→
changes
• past tenses and past participles dropping a final silent
e
and adding
-ed
to the
stem, e.g. change
→
changed or dance
→
danced
• present participles dropping a final silent
e
and adding
-ing
to the stem, e.g.
change
→
changing or dance
→
dancing
Other forms are given in the dictionary, notably for:
•verbs which inflect by doubling a consonant, e.g. bat
→
batting, batted
•verbs ending in
-y
which inflect by changing
-y
to
-i
, e.g. try
→
tries, tried
•verbs in which past tense and past participle do not follow the regular
-ed
pattern, e.g. feel
→
past and past participle felt; awake
→
past awoke; past
participle awoken
• present participles which add
-ing
but retain a final
e
(in order to make clear that
the pronunciation of
g
remains soft), e.g. singe
→
singeing
Nouns
Plurals formed by adding
-s
(or
-es
when they end in
-s
,
-x
,
-z
,
-sh
, or soft
-ch
) are
regarded as regular and are not shown.
Other plural forms are given in the dictionary, notably for:
• nouns ending in
-i
or
-o
, e.g. agouti
→
agoutis; albino
→
albinos
• nouns ending in
-a
,
-um
, or
-us
which are or appear to be Latinate forms, e.g.
alumna
→
alumnae; spectrum
→
spectra; alveolus
→
alveoli
• nouns ending in
-y
, e.g. fly
→
flies
• nouns with more than one plural form, e.g. storey
→
storeys or stories
• nouns with plurals showing a change in the stem, e.g. foot
→
feet
• nouns with plurals unchanged from the singular form, e.g. sheep
→
sheep