A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

unThe patterns also apply to prepositions such as over and under that can be attached towords in the same position as prefixes.overachieverunderhandedover- and underused20.4 Line Breaks20.4.1 Breaks within WordsFor most papers, the only words that should be hyphenated at the ends of lines are those youhave deliberately hyphenated, such as compounds (see 20.3). Set your word processor to leftjustify (with a “ragged” right margin), and do not use its automated hyphenation feature.If, however, you are required to justify both the left and right margins, you may have tohyphenate lines to avoid large gaps between words. Do not end four or more consecutive lineswith hyphens (resulting in a “hyphen block” along the margin), and do not leave thehyphenation entirely to the automated function of your word processor. It will be generallyreliable but will also make errors. So review word breaks after your word processor insertsthem. When in doubt, consult your dictionary, which indicates acceptable breaks withcentered dots or similar devices in the main word entry.One special type of problem concerns words with the same spelling but differentpronunciations. Such words may have different syllable breaks, such as rec-ord and re-cord.Your word processor may break such words identically, regardless of context.20.4.2 Breaks over Spaces and PunctuationYour word processor may also allow certain types of unacceptable line breaks to occur overspaces or punctuation. Always review your paper for such breaks.Initials. If initials are used in place of both a person's first and middle names, include aspace between them but do not divide them over a line. If necessary, you can break thename before the last name. See also 24.2.1.M. F. K. FisherM. F. K. / Fisherbut notM. / F. K. FisherNumbers and dates. Never put a line break within numbers expressed as numerals(25,000) or any terms consisting of numerals plus symbols, abbreviations, or units ofmeasure (10%; £6 4s. 6d.; 6:40 p.m.; AD 1895; 245 ml). In dates, do not divide a day ofthe month from the name of the month (February 15). See chapter 23 for more on numbersand date systems.