When to Do That Stringing-Words-Together Thing with Hyphens

When to Do That Stringing-Words-Together Thing with Hyphens When to Do That Stringing-Words-Together Thing with Hyphens When to Do That Stringing-Words-Together Thing with Hyphens By Mark Nichol When are hyphens required to string together a sequence of words, and when are the hyphens extraneous? The following sentences, each with a discussion and a revision, illustrate the syntactical situations in which they are necessary and when they are superfluous. 1. Who was the behind the scenes negotiator who facilitated the deal? The negotiator is described as working behind the scenes. When that phrase appears in isolation, as an adverbial phrase rather than as a phrasal adjective modifying a noun that follows, no hyphenation is needed, but here, it serves the latter function: â€Å"Who was the behind-the-scenes negotiator who facilitated the deal?† 2. There is no â€Å"one size fits all† list of risk concerns. Enclosing a phrase like this implies that the phrase is obscure and requires scare quotes or that someone said it and so quotation marks are needed, but the expression is ubiquitous, and no speaker is alluded to. To signal that those four words combine to modify list, string them together with several hyphens: â€Å"There is no one-size-fits-all list of risk concerns.† 3. Jones was forced out-of-bounds on the deciding play. The adverbial phrase â€Å"out of bounds† requires no linkage to indicate that it is self-contained; it modifies the verb it follows, not a subsequent noun: â€Å"Jones was forced out of bounds on the deciding play.† 4. She has an annoying in your face attitude. The phrase â€Å"in your face† modifies attitude as a single unit, so the phrase should be hyphenated: â€Å"She has an annoying in-your-face attitude.† 5. It has recently become a most-favored-nation among many countries in the European Union. When â€Å"most-favored nation† appears in isolation, it should appear just as it does within the quotation marks in this explanatory sentence; â€Å"most favored† is a phrasal adjective modifying nation: â€Å"It has recently become a most-favored nation among many countries in the European Union.† (Nation joins the hyphenation train only when it loses its noun status and joins the phrasal adjective to modify another noun, as in â€Å"most-favored-nation status.†) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Avoid Beginning a Sentence with â€Å"With†Social vs. SocietalHyphenation in Compound Nouns

What Is High School Honors Societies and Classes

What Is High School Honors Societies and Classes SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips High school honors can mean a lot of different things. Sometimes it refers to honors courses in your school. Other times it refers to specific honors societies that you can join, like the National Honor Society. Most high schools offer classes at three different levels: standard, honors, and AP. Standard will set you up with the basics, and AP is clearly connected to the AP exam – but what exactly does it mean when a class is honors level? And are honors classes connected to the various academic honors societies? If you are having trouble figuring out which is the right fit for you, or deciding which one would do more for your college application, or trying to make sense of the many honors organizations out there, read on for our explanation. What's the Difference Between Standard, Honors, and AP Classes? Before getting a sense of whether honors is right for you, it's a good idea to understand the differences between the levels of classes offered in high school. Of coursethe details vary by school. Some schools don’t even have honors classes, or only have honors classes in the subjects where they do not have AP classes. But here is the typical set up. (Please note that since IB diploma classes are very similar to AP classes in terms of level, for the sake of simplicity we are just going to talk about AP here). Before you dive off the highest board, make sure you can swim. Standard (or college prep) classes give you a solid foundation in a particular subject. In other words,you will learn the basics of what you need to know to continue studying that subject in high school and eventually, college. Honors classes move faster, and are harder, more in-depth, and have more complex assignments than standard classes. That means that you will learn a broader, more contextualized, more richly detailed version of the subject, and be much more ready to study it at a college level. Doing well in an honors class may improve your GPA more than a regular class, especially when your school calculates your weighted GPA. (Confused by what we mean? Let us explainthe differences between a weighted and unweighted GPA.) AP classes are meant to prepare students to take the AP exam for that subject.Theyare also harder and more rigorous than the standard level, but their focus may be slightly different in order to accommodate everything that is on the AP test. Onebig difference between honors and AP classes is the question of prerequisites. Honors classes may or may not have a prerequisite for getting in – ask your school counselor for the details. In contrast, anystudent is by policy supposed to be allowed to take any AP class if that's what he or she wants. To get the full scoop on the differences between honors and AP classes in your school, talk to a teacher in the Department you’re interested in, or your school counselor for a broader overview. Should I Take Honors or AP? If you know that you are ready for a challenge, and want to pursue a higher level of a particular class, how do you decide between honors and AP? Knowing where you're going doesn't always help with how to get there. Take the AP classif you are trying to optimize your college applications.AP is a better bet here, especially if you are planning to take the AP test, because this is a nationwide criteria that colleges can use to judge your skills and abilities against of those of applicants across the whole country. Also doing well on the AP test can earn you college credit, or at least place you out of intro classes when you get to college. Take the honors class if you are interested in a subject and your school does not have an AP version of it. It’s better to take honors than standard level and demonstrate that you are willing to challenge yourself. You should alsotake the honors class if it is taught by anamazingteacher who doesn't also teach AP. You can never overemphasizes the huge - really, lifelong! - rewards of learningfrom a fantastic teacher. Should I Join a High School Honors Society? Join us: it's all for one and one for all! For those who are passionate about or excel in specific subjects in school, honors can comefrom societies set up specifically to recognize these kinds of achievements. If the organization creates opportunities for you to do meaningful extracurricular projects or activities, then it is definitely worthwhile. Remember, unless you can describe a significant project than you did because of the society, simply being a member of one does not make a particularly impressive edition to your college application. But you have to be careful! There are also organizations that mimic legitimate honor societies in order to make money from naivestudents.For example, bewarefor-profit and non-chapter-based organizations like the National Society of High School Scholars which purposefully uses a confusing name that is very close to a legitimate organization, the National HonorsSociety. How can you tell the real honors organizations from predatory ones?Legitimate honor societies only work through chapters established in each high school. Any organization that requires you to send in dues or to apply not through your school is most likely a scam or a for-profit company. What Legitimate Honors Societies Are There? Here are the most well-known organizations around the country, grouped by subject. General Achievement Societies TheNational Honors Societyis anorganization established to recognize those outstanding high school students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Membership is based on the four pillars of National Honor Society: character, scholarship, leadership, and service. The Cum Laude Society is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools. The founders of the society modeled Cum Laude after Phi Beta Kappa. The California Scholarship Federation is a state-wide organization to honor outstanding high school students in California. Subject-Specific Societies The Sociedad Honoraria Hispnica (SHH) is an honor society for high school students enrolled in Spanish and/or Portuguese, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP).The mission of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispnica is to recognize high school achievement in Spanish and Portuguese and to promote interest in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian studies. The Socià ©tà © Honoraire de Franà §ais is an honor society for high school students taking French, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), the largest national association of French teachers in the world.This society provides an opportunity to recognize outstanding scholarship in the study of French language. Delta Epsilon Phi (ΔΕÎ ¦) National Honor Society for High School Students of German recognizes the outstanding academic achievement of learners of German. The Tri-M Music Honor Society is the international music honor society for middle/junior high and high school students. It is designed to recognize students for their academic and musical achievements, reward them for their accomplishments and service activities, and to inspire other students to excel at music and leadership. Mu Alpha Thetais dedicated to inspiring keen interest in mathematics, developing strong scholarship in the subject, and promoting the enjoyment of mathematics in high school and two-year college students. Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society is the only national organization for high school juniors and seniors that recognizes excellence in the field of Social Studies. Rho Kappa provides national recognition and opportunities for exploration in the social studies. The National Art Honor Society (NAHS) is designed specifically to inspire and recognize high school students who have shown an outstanding ability and interest in art. What’s Next? If you are interested in joining any of these honors societies, talk to you school counselor or a teacher about establishing a chapter at your school. If you want help deciding between AP and IB classes, let us help you with our guide. Want to see each subjectbroken down by year and level? We can explain which high school English, math, science, history, foreign language, and electives you should take and when: high school English classes high school Math classes high school Science classes high school Social Studies/History classes high school electives Ready to set up a challenging curriculum? Check out our discussion of just what makes a course load rigorous. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: