A hyphen ( - ) is used to link parts of a compound word. This includes most dual heritages (Mexican-American), and all words in a compound modifier except "very" and adverbs that end in "ly." (The ...

When you are reading American English, it can be fun to spot the differences. 2.Compound adjectives are usually hyphenated, so we have 'a high-quality performance', 'a ten-dollar note', a blue ...