student asking question

Is it okay to not use the '-' between 'off' and 'key'?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

It is better to leave the hyphen (-) between those two words. This is because the hyphen is joining those words together and making them into a singular and combined meaning. If you take out the hyphen, the words become separate and the meaning changes. You will see hyphens used in many instances in English. Here are a few examples. Ex: mother-in-law Ex: pick-me-up Ex: good-looking These words combined mean one thing. If you take out the hyphens, it no longer is a combined word and now means something completely different.

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