Wikipedia talk:POTD row/July 26, 2006

The hyphen in two-thirds was removed; I restored it. According to Chicago (7.90) "Traditionally [fractions are] hyphenated in noun, adjective, and adverb forms, except when second element is already hyphenated" and (9.15) "When ... a fraction is considered a single quantity, it is hyphenated" (with examples such as "She has read three-quarters of the book.") — Knowledge Seeker দ 03:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well, at first I was almost positive it needed the hyphen. But after looking at various style guides, it seemed that most stated that a hyphen is to be used in a fraction, but only when that fraction is an adjective. When a fraction is used as a noun, omit the hyphen. But I don't really know. I had had this big long thing typed up telling jotu why there should be a hyphen, but then got confused. I am happy to leave it in. --LV ^{(Dark Mark)} 14:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There may well be disagreement between style guides, though Chicago is usually my style guide of choice. It doesn't surprise me that there are some that suggest omitting the hyphenation. Feel free to send me some links; I'd be interested to read them. — Knowledge Seeker দ 15:58, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yep... lots of differences it seems. Here are some links that say not to hyphenate when used as a noun: [1], [2], [3], and our very own English compound (which states: "Fractions as modifiers are hyphenated: 'five-eighths inches', but if numerator or denominator are already hyphenated, the fraction itself does not take a hyphen: 'a thirty-three thousandth part'. Fractions used as nouns have no hyphens: 'I ate only one third of the pie.'" But our very own Hyphen article is more ambiguous.) Just thought you'd like to know. --LV ^{(Dark Mark)} 17:07, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]