Mississippi Foundations of Reading Practice Test

Which term describes words that may or may not be hyphenated based on their part of speech?

1. Compound words

2. Multi-syllable words

3. Diphthongs

4. Monosyllabic words

The correct answer is: Compound words

The term that describes words that may or may not be hyphenated based on their part of speech is "compound words." Compound words consist of two or more individual words combined to create a new word with a specific meaning. The hyphenation of these words often occurs depending on their grammatical function in a sentence. For example, the adjective form might be hyphenated (e.g., "well-known author") to clarify that two words are working together to modify a noun. However, when the same words are used as a noun form (e.g., "a well known"), the hyphen may not be necessary. Thus, the use of hyphenation can change based on how the compound word functions within a sentence. The other options do not accurately describe this concept. Multi-syllable words refer to any words that have more than one syllable, diphthongs pertain to a type of vowel sound in phonetics, and monosyllabic words consist of only one syllable. These terms do not relate to the hyphenation dependent on parts of speech.