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What is the proper way to spell this word? This in the context of writing a curriculum for children distinguishing living vs non-living things. Is it non-living or nonliving?

cheenbabes
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  • Possible duplicate http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/26837/is-the-use-of-a-hyphen-between-non-and-an-adjective-strictly-necessary – ScotM Feb 17 '15 at 03:51
  • Use non-living only where the negation takes the focus. – Kris Feb 17 '15 at 06:48
  • Perhaps worth adding, though, that in general "non" is hyphenated: non-smoking, non-stop, non-Newtonian fluid. – David Garner Feb 17 '15 at 10:55
  • @DavidGarner Yes, but on the question linked above, there are also examples given without hyphentation: nonnegative, nonmagnetic, nonferrous – cheenbabes Feb 17 '15 at 16:27

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While both are widely used, dictionaries seem to lean towards nonliving.

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Also found this link, which may be of use for your curriculum (PBS).

Minnow
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