Issue 284 April 9, 2009
Woodburning is one solid word when it refers to the craft:
He took up woodburning to decorate his handmade chess boards.
Hyphenate it when you describe an oven or a fireplace:
A wood-burning pizza oven produces an exquisitely crisp crust.
Want to feel smart? Wheel of Fortune got the hyphen right in a segment last fall, but the contestants were stumped. Check out their guesses.
Want to feel even smarter? Watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestants struggle with simple punctuation and parts of speech.
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