With novels or short stories, is there an established rule for hyphens with “mid”?
I see some references calling for the elimination of the hyphen unless followed by a capital letter. Yet the New York Times seems to usually write it as “mid-semester.” There is no “rule,” as such, but there are guidelines. For instance, there are three highly reputable “style manuals” that address questions like yours. [They do NOT go into great detail, using examples like “midsemester/mid-semester” for example.”] These three manuals are those of the UPI, the Associated Press, and — the most pretigious — “The Chicago Manual of Style.” Without quoting at length from these sources, I will summarize what they all say. “When in doubt, consult a reliable dictionary.” That may seem like empty advice, but, frankly, it’s the best we have. Over time, some words have first been written as phrases, such as “court house.” That phrase changed to the hyphenated word, “court-house.” Finally, common usage changed that word to what we use now: “courthouse.” I tried to check our library’s three unabr
