Question

Do I ask volunteers to sign up or sign-up?

Google and Twitter don't use the hyphen. I need the correct usage. Thanks!!

Answer 1

As a verb, it is spelled open ("sign up"). As an adjective or a noun, it takes the hyphen.

If you are asking volunteers to sign up, you are using it as a verb, so no hyphen.

Answer 2

Thank you or thank-you!! I'll sound a bit more intelligent at my meeting!

Answer 3

The reason it cannot take the hyphen as a verb is clearer if you think of its various forms as a verb: I sign up, you sign up, he signs up. Or, yesterday I signed up, today I might be signing up. And so on.

The part of the verb that takes the change in form is the first part -- the part that would be blocked from doing so by the hyphen, if there were one.

A few verbs are hyphenated, just so you don't think that verbs never are. The verb "fine-tune," for example. But in this case, the part of the verb that takes the change in person or tense is the second portion: I fine-tuned, I am fine-tuning, and so on.

Answer 4

You're welcome! :)