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.

我們書寫英文的時候，會遇到這種情況：寫到一行最后，有個單詞好像，哎，只能寫一半了，再寫就寫到紙張外面去了，沒有足夠的空寫完整個單詞了，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.

如果是在電腦上打字，英文單詞折行，office辦公軟件會自動幫你處理好這個問題。但如果手寫英文，如何處理英文單詞的折行，你需要知道以下規則：

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，把單詞做分行處理時，加上一個連字符（不帶空格）。在哪里加呢？單詞的第一部分之后，比如下面這個例子：

The matter of job compen-

sation is extremely important...

 RULES FOR DIVIDING WORDS

單詞切分原則：

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

切分單詞時，請遵循以下重要原則：

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

按音節切分。切分時以音節或音素組合為單位切分。比如important, im-por-tant - 因為important這個單詞有3個音節。thinking, think-ing - 'thinking' 有兩個音節。

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).

按結構切分。按照組成單詞的最小意義單位（詞根）來劃分。一個單詞可能有前綴（如un-, dis-, im-, 等，im-portant, dis-interested）、后綴（如-able，-fully, 如單詞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.

按意義切分。切分單詞前，看看單詞怎么切分，每部分能理解起來最容易。比如一些組合詞，houseboat由兩個具有獨立意義的單詞組成，house和boat。

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

再提供6條能幫你決定如何切分單詞的準則：

1. Never divide a word within a syllable.

不要在一個音節里切分單詞。

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

不要切分由兩個音節組成的后綴。

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等由兩個字母結尾的單詞，-ly結尾的單詞除外。

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

單詞切分后如果一個部分只有一個單詞，這是不合適的。

5. Never divide a word of one syllable.

不要切分單音節單詞。

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

不要切分少于5個字母組成的單詞。

（來源：恒星英語）