My friend and fellow writer, Rebecca Laffar-Smith came to me this morning with a sticky grammar and usage question. I knew the answer intuitively — that I would write the words to-do list with a hyphen. So I sipped my morning coffee and began the quest for another authority who agreed.
In a Google search, first page results were split nearly 50/50 between to-do and to do. Often when it comes to grammar and usage questions, Google search results will give insight into the most commonly accepted (if not always correct) usage. But it seems cyberspace can’t agree on whether or not to-do requires a hyphen. First-page results even turned up one instance of “todo,” which, because of the way we want to pronounce that word (rhymes with “Toto”) is just wrong.
After much debate and an exploration of the punctuation rules regarding hyphens, we decided to-do is correct. Why? I suppose it would be a cop-out to say, “It just looks right that way”?
First: Hyphens show a close relationship between two words. Together, the words to-do modify the noun list. We use the hyphen to show the close relationship. In other words: “My to-do list is a mile long. I have a lot to do.”
Second: Hyphens can link any words together except adverbs. Since “to” is a preposition and “do” is a verb, we can link them together with a hyphen and no one should complain.
Well, no one except my life and business development coach (J. Sewell Perkins from the Success Coaches Institute) and author Steven Covey, who both believe you should toss your to-do list in favor of writing down your goals and the most important tasks you should complete each day to help you achieve those goals. This system works well for me and keeps me focused on what’s important… including surfing the Internet looking for justification regarding hyphenated words. Plus, it means you’ll never have to worry whether or not “to-do” should be hyphenated.
One more note: Dictionary.com describes “to-do” as “bustle” and “fuss.” That might explain why so many of us with to-do lists rarely get anything done; there’s a lot of fuss and bustle but not much forward movement. But I believe we’re straying into territory better explored on another blog….
*chuckles* It certainly created some bustle and fuss while we tried to determine which to-do to do.
Thank you so very much for coming through on this. You are my Grammar Goddess, Dawn!
.-= Rebecca Laffar-Smith´s last blog ..Three Secrets to a Successful Book Ghostwriting Career =-.
Great post Dawn. I’m glad that we can reach out to one another to find out what the “to-do” is about “to do.” Lol. You go you grammar queen!
.-= Heiddi´s last blog ..Slowing Down =-.
Dawn – so when I’ve completed the tasks, do I write “done-did” or “done did” across the top of the page? LOL
“Much Ado About Nothing” by WS is “ado” not “to-do” Sometimes that Dic. even surprises ME.
Great post. How about we avoid all the fuss and say “Git ‘Er Done” list?
By the way, why is there no comma, in the following sentence, after “Laffar-Smith”?
“My friend and fellow writer, Rebecca Laffar-Smith came to me this morning…”