@jeff_lindqvist
“your native language probably has a lot fewer vowels.”
We have just 5 vowels! Can you believe that? I recommend Japanese as a target language for anyone who doesn’t want to bother himself with pronunciation.
Many native English speakers would have to think long and hard in order to place hyphens correctly. But then again, that’s not a skill you use very often in this computerized age.
As Jingle says, the use of computers has nearly done away with the need for hyphens at the end of a line. Do not worry unduly about separating words, nearly everybody either has to check how to do it, doesn’t worry or chooses another word…
The other use is to show words which clearly belong together.
The newly-wed couple went on a long-overdue visit to an elderly relative. Anti-apartheid protesters took their recently-painted and eagerly-anticipated placards onto the newly-refurbished train and promptly spoiled the untouched-by-human-hands look of the carriages. I like discovering unheard-of indie bands. I went through this paragraph with a fine-toothed comb to check for typos.
But even in my wonderfully-constructed sentences you could leave out most hyphens.
‘My Grammar and Me’ says that Brits tend to use the hyphen a bit more frequently than their cousins over the water do.
I just typed a message on someone’s wall using ‘up to date’, an expression which tends to be used with a hyphen when employed as an adjective:
This up-to-date thread has just been updated by an at times over-eager beaver.
We don’t use hyphens with -ly adjectives + participle or adverb, since ambiguity is next to impossible. (At least according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., Section 7.90.) Hence, wonderfully constructed sentences, rather than wonderfully-constructed sentences (since you can’t say * wonderfully sentences*), etc.
You, no doubt, are wonderfully right! That’s why I said you can have it both ways.
@jeff_lindqvist
Thank you. I did not know the “cot-caught” merger.
Reading your informative posts here, I became really thankful for the fact that I am living in the age when we don’t have to break a word into parts ourselves according to syllables any more! ( I couldn’t have posted any comment, otherwise.)
As for “the newly-wed couple” things, it seems to me that I have to study more from actual writings, such as the forum posts and the news articles.
By the way I bought myself “My Grammar and I” online ( it used to be on-line?), but I started to think I didn’t have to, with so many wonderful and quick answers around me…
@V?
Is it cot-caught “merger” or cot-caught “differentiation?”
I think that merger and split signify opposite directions.
The space between the lines is just blank. 
There is a phenomenon called phonemic split and there is an opposite phenomenon called phonemic merger. Historically, if one phoneme moves and changes while the other stays the same, the two merge into a new single phoneme. This has happened in certain dialects of American English with many phonemes, /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ being just one set of them. The merger of /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ is called the cot-caught merger; the two words were chosen as representatives of the two phonemes before they merged.
I found an interesting article.
Bush and Carter’s Nuclear Pronunciation Might Be Right http://bit.ly/fzJQLd
From what I have studied here, I am convinced that “coat” should be “innocent” in this case. I can differentiate it from other two quite easily. So “coat” can go home. The other two have to be detained for further investigation by the brilliant LinQers.
We have no objections.
@tora3,
Those are good questions for your tutor/corrector.
cot-caught merger
“Both surveys[Labov’s telephone survey and the Harvard Dialect Survey] indicate that approximately 60% of American English speakers preserve the contrast, while approximately 40% make the merger.” Phonological history of English open back vowels - Wikipedia
Although many people differentiate between cot and caught, you might suspect that cot and caught are merging.
@astamoore
Thank you for your explanation.
I wonder if “caught” is going to be spelt “cot” after the final stage of the merger. Have we “cot[sic]” the sight of the trend in this thread?
About court and caught
Recently I noticed that I pronounce the two words differently. I said to myself “ΕΥΡΗΚΑ!” Thank you, SanneT.
People pronounce cot and caught the same? You learn something new every day.