FW: double-click or double click

["Wyrwas, Kathleen A" <Kathleen -dot- Wyrwas -at- UNISYS -dot- COM>]

Lori Mackenzie wrote:
>>----------
>>From:         Lori Mackenzie[SMTP:lmacke -at- NM0151WP -dot- NMSO -dot- NM -dot- BLM -dot- GOV]
>>Sent:         Tuesday, June 17, 1997 10:00 AM
>>Subject:      double-click or double click
>>
>>I keep seeing double-click used as a verb, which is not correct as far
>>as I know. Shouldn't it be double click (without the hyphen)? Or has the
>>computer environment changed that?
>>
>>----------
>
Another similar inconsistent usage I've noticed a lot (and is a personal
pet peeve!) is "set up" vs. "setup"  (or "break up" vs. "breakup",
etc.). The issue really comes down to people not understanding which is
the verb and which is the noun.    A test that I've adopted to tell the
difference is, can you put another word "in between" and still have it
make sense?  If so, that's the verb.  If not, it's a noun.

For example:
"Set the software up by ..."    This is a verb, so I should write "Set
up the software by....".    The rule is to put a space between "set" and
"up".

On the other hand, if the same sample task has completed:
"When the software setup is complete, you will see....".   The verb here
is "is complete".  Ask yourself, when _what_ is complete?  Answer: "the
setup", which is a noun.  The rule in this case is "setup", all one
word.

I'm sure that a similar test can be applied to the "double-click" vs.
"double click" usage.  Here's what other sources have to say:

**  The Windows Help (Win95) index shows both usages, but the help topic
itself uses the hyphen for both verb and noun forms.  (Maybe people have
been using this as a precedent, and that's why Lori has seen this usage
everywhere.)

**  Our corporate style guide (culled from 28 other sources) has this to
say about hyphen usage:   "In general, hyphenate a unit modifier when it
precedes the noun.  Omit the hyphen when it follows the noun.
[Examples: A well-written manual is easy to follow.  The manual is well
written.]  Do not use a hyphen in a unit modifier if the first word ends
in -ly, e.g. 'newly hired personnel'".    Note:  The style guide defines
a "unit modifier" as "a temporary compound of two or more words that
jointly modify a noun."

**  "The Handbook of Good English" by Edward D. Johnson (1991) provides
an incredibly colorful 34-page discussion on the various uses of the
hyphen.  One of Johnson's rules states "Don't hyphenate most compound
nouns that are formed of noun+noun, gerund+noun, or adjective+noun....".
 However, he has no rule that addresses the verb form, which was Lori's
original question.

OK. I've gone and gotten carried away, but I felt on a mission to find a
concrete rule.  Which I didn't.  But I'm done researching for today!!
It'll be interesting to see what others have said by the time this
message posts. (For me, that'll be tomorrow, as I get this list in
digest form.)
Regards,
Kathy
kathleen -dot- wyrwas -at- unisys -dot- com
Plymouth, MI

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