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- Thread starter JamesTFHS
- Start date
Journeyman
Wanara009
Lore Master
You should've put this on "Writing Question" section...
Anyhow. I think the correct spelling is shapeshifter. The spell check in Microsoft Word don't recognize it, so I usually compensate by writing it as 'shape-shifter'.
- Thread starter
- #3
I think any way is fine. Shapeshifter, shape-shifter, shape shifter. I personally hyphenate it.
wordwalker
Dark Lord
I think the two-word version looks a little awkward. You want it to read like a single term, a unit of meaning; it's better with no space.
Also, the no-space, no-hyphen version is much more common than the others.
Also, the no-space, no-hyphen version is much more common than the others.
Weaver
Mystagogue
I agree with Wordwalker (and not just because I always use the one-word spelling when I'm proofreading 
). The hyphenated version could work, and for words that could be misread if the letters run togther, hyphenated is better. (I once saw a misplaced hyphen in a Charles Stross novel that had the MC talking about his "cow-orkers." Okay, probably misplaced.)
Generally, if the two parts of a compound word act together as a single entity, they look better written as a single entity. (Sorry, I don't have the jargon to explain better.) Thus (to take an example from the last thread I posted wildly on today), it's a full-length novel, not a full length novel. ("full-lenth" acting as a single adjective in this usage)
). The hyphenated version could work, and for words that could be misread if the letters run togther, hyphenated is better. (I once saw a misplaced hyphen in a Charles Stross novel that had the MC talking about his "cow-orkers." Okay, probably misplaced.)Generally, if the two parts of a compound word act together as a single entity, they look better written as a single entity. (Sorry, I don't have the jargon to explain better.) Thus (to take an example from the last thread I posted wildly on today), it's a full-length novel, not a full length novel. ("full-lenth" acting as a single adjective in this usage)
Weaver
Mystagogue
By the way, the massive tome of a print dictionary (Webster's Universal Encyclopedic Dictionary, 2002 edition) that I keep next to my desk has it hyphenated: shape-shifter.
psychotick
Dark Lord
Hi,
Why not make it easier on yourself and just call him a shifter?
Cheers, Greg.
Why not make it easier on yourself and just call him a shifter?
Cheers, Greg.
wordwalker
Dark Lord
Excellent point, but only for use part of the time; it comes across as a sort of nickname for the full term. (Unless it's a world that takes it for granted so much nobody bothers with the full one.)