I was just spell-checking the fifth draft of my novel, and have queries on a couple of things the spellchecker rejected. I prefer "wavetops" but the spellchecker suggested "wave tops" or "wave-tops" Equally, I prefer "worklights" but the spellchecker suggested "work lights" or "work-lights" Opinions? Are the compound forms acceptable?
Given that spellcheckers (spell checkers, spell-checkers) can be notoriously unreliable, I'd go with the unhyphenated compound, as it's the whole entity that's being referenced - wavetops.
google comparisons are a good way to test various terms: 33,400 hits for wave tops & wave-tops 9,830 for wavetops
I run into this so often! Damn hyphen use to hell! And Microsoft Word only further muddies the water, doesn't it? Sheesh. Do Strunk & White cover hyphen use and compound words? I'm going to check later tonight ...
hyphens are not so bad, as long as you are consistent. I prefer the hyphens to compounds, it's less german.
Microsoft Word is a tool, not a primary reference. Start with one or more dictionaries. If that fails, hit your search engines.
