Hyphen before Numeral with Prefix

Question

I would like to know the reason why hyphen is required before numeral with prefix.

mid-1990 pre-1950 ...

Thanks in advance.

possible duplicate of Correct hyphenation for conjunction of hyphenated compound adjectives — Neeku, Oct 17 '14 at 14:04

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 17 '14 at 14:13

1

It's simply an aversion to mixing symbols and words. The same aversion used to apply to suffixes as well and solved, rather illogically, with an apostrophe: 1950's. You still see that from time to time, but most modern styles have opted for the form 1950s.

answered Oct 17 '14 at 14:13

Galfridus

108
4

In the same vein (ie avoidance of jarring juxtapositions), the plurals of the nouns do (party) and ex may be written do's and ex's, despite the RULE (!?) that you can't use an apostrophe just to make a pure plural form. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 17 '14 at 15:29

Hyphen before Numeral with Prefix

1 Answers1