Question

I need to know whether it's appropriate to use a hyphen when making multiple references to the second word in a term. For example, is it proper to use a hyphen in the following: "The site includes numerical- and alphabetical search functions?"

Answer 1

If when you list them separately the proper terms are 'numerical-search functions' and 'alphabetical-search functions' then you need hyphens on both terms:

"The site includes numerical- and alphabetical-search functions?"

But if the terms are originally unhyphenated, as in 'numerical search functions' and 'alphabetical search functions' then you do not need any hyphens:

"The site includes both numerical and alphabetical search functions"

Of course, you could always just say:

"The site contains alphanumeric search functions"