Words hyphenated forms

As you learned in the rule about the use of hyphens, there are specific instances where hyphens are used in combining words. Hyphens are used when forming adjectives that appear before a noun, for example. In creating compound words, hyphens are not used. In most cases, you will merge the two words with their spelling intact. 

Ion-radicals have a dual character. They contain an unpaired electron and are, therefore, close to radicals. At the same time, they bear a charge and are, naturally, close to ions. This is why the words ion and radicaf are connected by a hyphen. Being radicals, ion-radicals are ready to react with strange radicals. Like all other radicals, they can dismutate and recombine. Being ions, ion-radicals are able to react with particles of the opposite charge, and are prone to form ionic aggregates. In contrast to radicals, the ion-radicals are specially sensitive to medium effects. 

The prefix iso- is part of the words propyl and butyl, forming a single word isopropyl and isobutyl. The prefixes sec- and tert- are separated from the word butyl by a hyphen sec-butyl and tert-butyl. 

Compound words made from combining verb forms are frequently hyphenated The psychiatrist insisted his birthday presents be shrink-wrapped. 

In the language of chemical nomenclature, the simple names of atoms are the words. As words are assembled to form a sentence, so names of atoms are assembled to form names of chemical compounds. Syntax is the set of grammatical rules for building sentences out of words. In nomenclature, syntax includes the use of symbols, such as dots, commas and hyphens, the use of numbers for appropriate reasons in given places, and the order of citation of various words, syllables and symbols. 

So far our discussion has centred on whether forms which we normally delimit by whitespace should be considered as full words or further broken down, and we have seen that apart from a few exceptions, whitespace in conventional writing is actually a quite reliable guide as to word boundaries. But there are certain cases where we can argue that forms separated by whitespace should in fact be treated as a single word. Most of this involves issues to do with hyphens and compounding. Consider the following examples ... 

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