Sometimes it is necessary to divide a word at the end of the line because there is not enough space for the completion of the word.

我们书写英文的时候，会遇到这种情况：写到一行最后，有个单词好像，哎，只能写一半了，再写就写到纸张外面去了，没有足够的空写完整个单词了，只能折到下一行。

These days many computer programs automatically take care of this problem for you. However, if you are using a typewriter or handwriting on stationary it is useful to know these rules.

如果是在电脑上打字，英文单词折行，office办公软件会自动帮你处理好这个问题。但如果手写英文，如何处理英文单词的折行，你需要知道以下规则：

In order to divide a word add a hyphen (-) typed without a space immediately after the first part of the divided word at the end of the line.

通常，把单词做分行处理时，加上一个连字符（不带空格）。在哪里加呢？单词的第一部分之后，比如下面这个例子：

The matter of job compen-

sation is extremely important...

RULES FOR DIVIDING WORDS

单词切分原则：

Here are the most important rules to follow when dividing a word

切分单词时，请遵循以下重要原则：

By syllable: Divide the word by syllables or units of sound. For example, important, im-por-tant - 'important' has three syllables; thinking, think-ing - 'thinking' has two syllables

按音节切分。切分时以音节或音素组合为单位切分。比如important, im-por-tant - 因为important这个单词有3个音节。thinking, think-ing - 'thinking' 有两个音节。

By structure: Divide the word into the smaller units of meaning from which the word is constructed. It may have a beginning (a prefix) such as un-, dis-, im-, etc., (im-portant, dis-interested) or an ending (a suffix) such as -able, -fully, (as in desirable, desir-able).

按结构切分。按照组成单词的最小意义单位（词根）来划分。一个单词可能有前缀（如un-, dis-, im-, 等，im-portant, dis-interested）、后缀（如-able，-fully, 如单词desirable中的desire-able。

By meaning: Decide how each part of the divided word is best understood in order that the word is easily recognized from the two parts. For example, compound words such as houseboat made up of two words combined to make a single word, house-boat.

按意义切分。切分单词前，看看单词怎么切分，每部分能理解起来最容易。比如一些组合词，houseboat由两个具有独立意义的单词组成，house和boat。

Here are six further rules to help you decide when and how to divide words.

再提供6条能帮你决定如何切分单词的准则：

1. Never divide a word within a syllable.

不要在一个音节里切分单词。

2. Never divide an ending (suffix) of two syllables such as -able or -fully.

不要切分由两个音节组成的后缀。

3. Never divide a word with an ending of two letters such as -ed -er, -ic (exception -ly)

不要切分以-ed, -er, -ic等由两个字母结尾的单词，-ly结尾的单词除外。

4. Never divide a word so that one of the parts is a single letter.

单词切分后如果一个部分只有一个单词，这是不合适的。

5. Never divide a word of one syllable.

不要切分单音节单词。

6. Never divide a word of fewer than five letters.

不要切分少于5个字母组成的单词。

（来源：恒星英语）