Back in grammar class, I remember learning about the hyphen and just as in math class (the one class I absolutely hated) I thought when am I going to ever use this again? I never really used the hyphen except to continue a compound word onto the next line. So I figured that it was unimportant just like algebra is.
It wasn't until recently I realized just how important the hyphen is. In the news industry, the hypen seems to be your best friend. In every story that I write, I find that I used the hypen in one way or the other. Hyphens are actually important. When writing for the newspaper, it is important to be as clear as possible while doing so in the shortest length possible. That is where prenoun modifiers come in, which requires a hyphen. For example the English-speaking world or a four-door minivan. The English is describing the speaking rather than the work and that four modifies door, not minivan.
