Let’s split: The grammatical breakdown of breaking up

In 1962, long before I was born, Neil Sedaka sang “Breaking up is hard to do”. Judging by the confusion I see over breakup versus break up and crackdown versus crack down, it seems plenty of people — including many headline writers — have a tough time knowing when to split.

John, you may say, you’re just being pedantic now. Perhaps. But good writing is all about precision and clarity, so getting things right really helps your reader to understand the meaning quickly, easily and properly.  

There is a big difference between when workers melt down metal in a factory and when you have a meltdown in the sense of an emotional or financial collapse or a seriously bad event inside a nuclear reactor.  

In most cases, the simple trick is to look at the root verb — break or melt — and whether it can stand alone as an action.

As a verb, break up is two words and is the action of ending a relationship or splitting something into parts, as in “The regulator ordered the company to break up its food and beverage units”.

As a noun, breakup is one word and is the actual thing or event — the separation of two people or the dismantling of a company.

When it’s a noun, is it breakup or is it break-up with a hyphen? I prefer breakup but whether to use a hyphen or not depends on the style guide or writing conventions you use at work. In any case, the dictionary is your friend.

There are thousands of examples but here are some common ones that cause confusion:

The school said it would crack down on students smoking outside the gates. (Verb: An action to suppress or halt someone or something)

The police crackdown on shoplifting has resulted in hundreds of arrests. (Noun: The actual measures taken)

Please stand up when the guest speaker arrives. (Verb)

Her first try at standup comedy went really well. (Adjective modifying comedy)

Don’t mix up their names. There was a mixup with the delivery by the post office.  

Rip off that sticker before you paint the wall. Those ticket prices are a total ripoff. 

Pay off your credit card bill every month. She got a big payoff when she was made redundant.

Make up is what you do after an argument or when you invent a story. Makeup goes on your face or can mean the composition of something, as in the “makeup of the group”. Makeup also is an adjective, as in “He took a makeup test after being too ill to go to school on Monday”.

You roll out the red carpet, literally or figuratively, when you welcome an important guest. The government’s rollout of the new policy was greeted with skepticism.

Take down those ugly curtains. The internet watchdog ordered a takedown of the offensive posts. 

Shut out that noise by closing the windows! The goalkeeper earned her third shutout of the season with the 3-0 victory.

You get the idea. It’s pretty much the same rule of two words for a verb and one word for a noun or adjective. If in doubt, check the dictionary.

My last examples are compound words that often cause confusion because the meaning of the whole word is not the same as the sum of its parts.  

Everyday is an adjective that means “ordinary” or “routine” or “mundane”, as in “He had everyday shirts for work but some designer labels for going out”. 

Every day is a phrase that means “each day”, as in “I walk the dog every day”.

Maybe is an adverb that means “perhaps” or “potentially”, as in “Maybe I’ll get better at guitar if I practise every day” or “Maybe your computer has a virus”.

May be is a verb phrase that also implies possibility. But there are essentially two verbs — may and be. 

Think of verb phrases such as may go swimming or may travel or may decide and you’ll see why may be is right in this sentence: “I may be able to finish this article if I stop giving any more examples. I don’t want to bore you anymore”.

Many thanks and happy writing!