Does Sweetheart Need a Hyphen?

Often, these are proper nouns: Santa Claus suit, New Zealand company, etc. Other times, they're just extremely common word pairs: high school sweetheart, dining room chair, etc. Yes, you read that right – the final two compound modifiers should NOT have hyphens. ... They are only adverbs, and adverbs do not modify nouns.

How do you know if a hyphen is needed?

Generally, you need the hyphen only if the two words are functioning together as an adjective before the noun they're describing. If the noun comes first, leave the hyphen out. This wall is load bearing. It's impossible to eat this cake because it is rock hard.

Do you hyphen non?

We use an en dash when the prefix goes with an open compound noun: non–United States citizen. And we use a hyphen when the prefix goes with a hyphenated compound: non-English-speaking.