the word appeared in both forms in a business eLearning course I am editing at my work.
"line-up" first, then "lineup". Often the hyphenated is the preferred British spelling, but not so in this case. When style manuals express no preference I like to ask other folks their opinions.
I believe that as long as the style of writing is consistent, you can use either hyphenated or non-hyphenated words. Although, in this case, I think that lineup is the best word, since it is available non-hyphenated and is a noun. Makeup, for example is probably a heck of a lot more common in usage than make-up.
The entire point, I think, is to alleviate any confusion by eliminating ambiguity. For example, you'd write bookstore instead of book-store since bookstore is in the dictionary. But if the bookstore sells used books, it is then a used-book store instead of a used bookstore. Heh.
If use or lack of a hyphen causes ambiguity of a sentence, you adjust the word. If it does not, then it all depends on your writing style. You just have to be consistent. ^^ If you wrote "lineup", "mock-up", and "make-up" all in the same book, you'd have a lot of critics.
the word appeared in both forms in a business eLearning course I am editing at my work.
"line-up" first, then "lineup". Often the hyphenated is the preferred British spelling, but not so in this case. When style manuals express no preference I like to ask other folks their opinions.
Comments 4
Why ask you?
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"line-up" first, then "lineup". Often the hyphenated is the preferred British spelling, but not so in this case. When style manuals express no preference I like to ask other folks their opinions.
I chose lineup as the preferred option.
Reply
The entire point, I think, is to alleviate any confusion by eliminating ambiguity. For example, you'd write bookstore instead of book-store since bookstore is in the dictionary. But if the bookstore sells used books, it is then a used-book store instead of a used bookstore. Heh.
If use or lack of a hyphen causes ambiguity of a sentence, you adjust the word. If it does not, then it all depends on your writing style. You just have to be consistent. ^^ If you wrote "lineup", "mock-up", and "make-up" all in the same book, you'd have a lot of critics.
Reply
the word appeared in both forms in a business eLearning course I am editing at my work.
"line-up" first, then "lineup". Often the hyphenated is the preferred British spelling, but not so in this case. When style manuals express no preference I like to ask other folks their opinions.
I chose lineup as the preferred option.
Reply
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