Hyphenation

I thought that the title of this article was interesting. Why? Because this is a situation wherein somebody actually used hyphenation correct. The term "antigen-specific" is a compound adjective, and as such, it should ordinarily be hyphenated.

So many people miss out on this simple rule. I don't understand why, since it should be pretty clear to anyone who does a lot of reading. I do understand that some people don't seem to be wired in a way that lets them grasp the written word as well as others do, though. Some can communicate perfectly when when using spoken English, but their written English is a mess. Go figger.

Consider Rick Warren's vastly overrated bestseller, "The Purpose Driven Life." "Purpose Driven" should be hyphenated, but it is not. Very few people pick up on this.