Have looked everywhere and it appears that anything preceding the word education is not hyphenated. Is there a rule? Religious education, sex education, health education, all of these preceding the word program or other noun go without hyphen.. please help!
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The rule would be the compound-modifier rule. (I just used one.) If two words are used together to modify another word, then they are joined with a hyphen. Some people don't follow this rule all the time, but I'll get to that in a second. First, here are some examples:
Orange juice salesman, or orange-juice salesman?
It would be orange-juice salesman, because "orange" and "juice" are used together to describe, i.e. modify, what kind of salesman it is. Now, if it was a salesman with orange skin who sold grape and apple juice, then it would be an orange juice salesman.
Small business man, or small-business man?
It would be the hyphen, unless the man was 3 feet 6 inches tall.
Some people don't always follow this rule, and they instead opt to leave out the hyphen, unless doing so would confuse the meaning. That's why you never see High-school student (even though high school students throw great parties and have lots of snacks on hand).
I tend to use hyphens with almost all compound modifiers, so with regard to your examples, yes, I would write "sex-education program." Most people who shun hyphens would leave it out, and it's not really wrong to do so, as long as the meaning is clear. It's more a matter of your personal taste. Many battles have been fought over that pesky punctuation mark.
Here's the thing; it's not a grammar issue. It's a style issue, so that it's not a matter of a rule, it's a matter of a stylistic choice.
More often than not the choice is made based on whatever the house style manual or style is.
But as a rule of thumb, ask yourself if using the hyphen makes the meaning clearer than it would be without the hyphen.
More often than not the choice is made based on whatever the house style manual or style is.
But as a rule of thumb, ask yourself if using the hyphen makes the meaning clearer than it would be without the hyphen.
No hyphen.
No hyphen. Be wary of the compound-modifier "rule," It usually means youneed to rewrite teh sentence.
"What does he do for a living?"
"He's an orange-juice salesman."
NOT.
It should be, "He sells orange juice."
And it should be "He owns a small business."
And "education" should almost never have a hyphen in front of it, even with the compound-modifier rule.
If the meaning is clear, forget the hyphen. If the meaning isn't clear, the best solution is very often to reword the sentence.
Hyphens are good, useful critters, but they also excuse much lazy writing.
No hyphen. Be wary of the compound-modifier "rule," It usually means youneed to rewrite teh sentence.
"What does he do for a living?"
"He's an orange-juice salesman."
NOT.
It should be, "He sells orange juice."
And it should be "He owns a small business."
And "education" should almost never have a hyphen in front of it, even with the compound-modifier rule.
If the meaning is clear, forget the hyphen. If the meaning isn't clear, the best solution is very often to reword the sentence.
Hyphens are good, useful critters, but they also excuse much lazy writing.
Your title says "education program". Do you mean "educational program"? If not, would you prefer "program concerning religion and education" or "program dealing with education in the church"?
According to my grammar book, modifiers are hyphenated only when NOT using a hyphen would be confusing. The meaning of religious education program is clear, so no hyphen is necessary.
Read an exellent discussion of all these points in Chicago Manual of Style. In the 15th (current) edition, start with the discussion in section 7.86, page 300. Veronie's discussion accurately reflects this well-respected source. The Associated Press, Modern Language Association (MLA) and other widely used (ends in ly, thus no hypen) style guides offer similar advice. There is no need to rewrite a sentence just because a compound modifier (phrasal adjective) pops up. Readers are used to them, and writers often use them to create a pleasing concinnity.
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