Brain Teasers
Hyp-hens
Newspapers sometimes hyphenate words in the wrong place with humorous results. Even placed correctly, some hyphens can twist the meaning of a sentence.
Each of the sentences below has a missing hyphenated word. The numbers in parentheses give the length of the hyphenated word parts. See if you can figure them out!
For example:
The mime had to permanently retire after he was accused of (4-8).
The answer is "mans-laughter"; the sentence makes sense with either "manslaughter" or "man's laughter".
1. Last year, I fell and broke both legs as I crossed the finish line, and now (1-6) has taken away all my muscles.
2. The government's (5-2) policy would obviously chop our income in half.
3. I wondered if the heavy prince would ever be a (4-4) man at all when he stepped on the lake and broke through the ice.
4. After several stock losses, the penniless investor went into a (5-4) to vent his fury.
Each of the sentences below has a missing hyphenated word. The numbers in parentheses give the length of the hyphenated word parts. See if you can figure them out!
For example:
The mime had to permanently retire after he was accused of (4-8).
The answer is "mans-laughter"; the sentence makes sense with either "manslaughter" or "man's laughter".
1. Last year, I fell and broke both legs as I crossed the finish line, and now (1-6) has taken away all my muscles.
2. The government's (5-2) policy would obviously chop our income in half.
3. I wondered if the heavy prince would ever be a (4-4) man at all when he stepped on the lake and broke through the ice.
4. After several stock losses, the penniless investor went into a (5-4) to vent his fury.
Hint
Here are additional clues to both the complete word and the two hyphenated parts.A clue for mans-laughter is: murder = male's-humour
1. withered = one-reward
2. strain = obvious-hatchet
3. contemplating = narrow-ruler
4. stock dealer = penniless-fury
Answer
1. a-trophy2. overt-ax
3. thin-king
4. broke-rage
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