Question

In most lines of this text there is an extra word. Write the extra word, or put a hyphen (-) if the line is correct. In August Gordon will then have been at his company for 25 years? 1) extra 2) word 3) hyphen 4) -

Answer 1

This instruction is about using hyphens correctly to join words serving as a single modifier before a noun. Option 3 is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of the question involves identifying extraneous words in given lines of text and understanding when to use a hyphen. Hyphens are used to join two or more words serving as a single modifier before a noun, which helps to clarify how the words function in the sentence.

In the provided examples, the challenge is to insert missing hyphens if they are needed for compound modifiers or to omit them if they are incorrectly used.

For the sentence "I have nothing to wear for my job interview but a paint splattered tie.", a hyphen should be used to make the term 'paint-splattered tie' indicating the tie is splattered with paint.

In "Those ragged-old clothes I got from the attic were moth-ridden.", the correct form should be 'ragged old clothes' without a hyphen, as 'ragged' and 'old' are separate descriptors of the clothes.

"Shelia's cat brought home a mouse that was scared-stiff but otherwise unharmed." requires a hyphen in 'scared-stiff' to convey that the mouse was extremely scared.

The phrase "The recycling bin was filled with empty-plastic water bottles." does not need a hyphen; it should read 'empty plastic water bottles'.

Last, in the statement "Walter said I could use his, even though it was dog-eared and had missing pages.", 'dog-eared' is correctly hyphenated as it is a compound adjective describing the condition of the book.

Hence, option 3 is correct.