Guide For

Dividing Words
1. Divide words only between syllables.
One-syllabus words, therefore, should
not be divided.

EXAMPLE:
Shipped, through, passed
2. Divide between double consonants.
EXAMPLE:
Car-riage, col-lege, sug-gest, fol-low, cur-rent, ship-per

3. Divide words ending in “ing” between

the root words and the added suffix.
EXAMPLE:
Run-ning, feel-ing, discuss-ing, begin-ning
4. Divide before a suffix.
EXAMPLE:
Mail-able, pay-ment, grate-ful, por-tion

5. Divide after a prefix.

EXAMPLE:
Con-test, com-plete, dis-count, pro-vide
6. Divide after the single vowel syllable
within a word.
EXAMPLE:
Regu-lar, sepa-rate, divi-dend, indi-cate

7. Divide between two accented vowels.

EXAMPLE:
Gradu-ate, valu-able
8. Divide between two consonants
coming between two vowels.
EXAMPLE:
Num-ber, bet-ween, elec-tion, des-troy, for-give

9. Divide compounds and hyphened

words only on the hyphen.
EXAMPLE:
Self-respect, well-known, key-board, proof-read, worth-
while
10. Do not divide words of fewer than six
letters even though they consist two
syllables.
EXAMPLE: Radio, today, after, lucky

11. Do not divide contractions, abbreviations,

sums of money or mixed numbers
EXAMPLE: Haven’t, C.O.D., ₱1,325.50, 5 3/4
12. Avoid dividing capitalized words.

EXAMPLE: Manila, Bulacan, Mendiola

13. Avoid dividing too many words. If possible, do not

divide a word. When in doubt, consult the
dictionary.