Hyphen Heath's Lesson on hyphens

Hey, this Hyphen Heath again. I'm going to tell you about using me. Personally, I think the rules for hyphens are pretty self-explanatory, but I'm a hyphen, so I'll just give you a little heads-up. There are a lot of well-meaning people out there, but a lot of them are brain-dead when using hyphens. As a hyphen, I'm self-motivated to tell others about what I do. Also, I'm the best person to tell you, because, when it comes to hyphens, I'm mistake-free. Now, I'll tell you the rules for hyphens. Okay, you use a hyphen to divide a word when you run out of room at the end of a line. A top-notch writer would never ever use me to split a word in the middle of a syllable. Also, you use hyphens in all the numbers from twenty-two to ninety-nine, and fractions used as modifiers; for example, one-fourth of a cup. Use hyphens with prefixes and suffixes too. It is all-important. Finally, hyphenate a compound adjective when it precedes the noun it modifies unless one of the modifiers ends in - ly. Here's an example: a world-famous actor, or a fully formed sentence. Well, those are the much-needed rules that you should apply when using me. Also, remember we hyphens aren't used much, but when we are, we're a first-class mark. All-in-all, my job is easy, and I love it.