Indwelling is an adjective, Foley is a noun, and this is an ajective-noun modifing catheter (noun). Shouldn't this be transcribed indwelling-Foley catheter? I can't find it with a hyphen anywhere I look. Is this a compound modifier that is commonly used together and is clear without the hyphen?

quote:

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Some combinations of words are commonly read as a unit. As such combinations come into common usage, the hyphen tends to be omitted without sacrificing clarity.

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Just a few of the given examples are:

birth control methods

public health officials

medical school students

social service agency

open heart surgery

bone marrow biopsy

urinary tract infection

inner ear disorder

low back pain

soft tissue mass

I think we could add "indwelling Foley catheter" to that list, don't you?

I taught transcription for 7 years, and this was SUCH a big issue. It's very hard to teach when:

1) "old" transcriptionists "just know" which ones are on the list, and which aren't;

2) reference materials vary in their recommendations;

3) individual employers vary in which rules they adhere to (and sometimes, on which days they adhere to them)!!

So it goes when you wrangle a living language, I guess. Frustrating, sometimes....but I LOVE it. Learn something new every day!

Melissa

In the meantime, why don't we use this thread to expand our list of compounds that do not require hyphens?

nonsustained ventricular tachycardia
right midlung field
postpartum tubal ligation

This is actually the case with most prefixes (ANTE, ANTI, DE, SEMI, etc.), but the above are voted (by me) as most likely to make you want to put a hyphen in!!!!

Melissa

quote:

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The trend in modern usage is to spell compounds as solid words as soon as they have become permanent compounds, and otherwise to spell them as open compounds. In other words, the trend is away from the use of hyphens.

1. Do not hyphenate when the words that make up a compound appear in regular order and the hyphen is not needed to clarify sense or pronunciation.
soft goods
ill fame
bed rest
hard up
trundle bed
health food
course work
day school

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I think it follows in the above examples, that if we were to add an adjective in front of these compounds, we would still not use a hyphen. I think if we examine most of the phrases in our 2 lists (the one in my original post and the one in the BOS), we could identify two words that would fit the rule above. The third word is simply an adjective modifying a compound noun or a noun being modifying by a compound adjective that doesn't take a hyphen.

Does that make sense?

I'm really busy right now, but this was quick to find and was in line with what I was working on anyway. Thought I'd throw it out so y'all could be thinking about what it says.

edited to fix list and further clarify.

[ 02-20-2004: Message edited by: ebadrake ]

I always refer back to this rule: the point of the hyphen is to avoid ambiguity for the reader. nothing seems ambiguous with 'indwelling Foley catheter.' I think this has phrase has come to mean a synonymous unit:

quote:

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To this day, an indwelling urinary catheter is commonly referred to as a "Foley catheter."

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incidental FYI: (grammar tip archive) http://www.proofreadnow.com/grammarrules.html

Thanks, Tang. As an aside, just how do you organize your web resources?

as for organizing, I just use my Internet Explorer favorites file and I have individual folders for stuff like dogs, movies, music, grammar, etymology, editing, comedy, food, beauty (empty), erotica (full), how to, art, travel, search engines, medical, drugs, etc.

I do know a guy that uses this program for our communal resources for Google Answers. just haven't had time to investigate it. http://favormark.com/ie

looks pretty easy (famous last words, right up there with 'you can't miss it')

I pretty much organize my favorites the same way you do, but I have SO many. I try to keep the ones I like near the top, but sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I don't bother. A friend told me about an inexpensive program that backs up your favorites to a web site, checks them periodically to make sure they're still good, and deletes duplicates (one of my problems). I've forgotten what it's called, but wrote her a note to ask.

http://www.aignes.com/press/deadlink140.htm

http://www.book-marks.net

http://www.manitools.com

[ 02-20-2004: Message edited by: mptang ]