Learn English – Should “no longer” have a hyphen

hyphenation

I have always put a hyphen in the fragment "no-longer X", but neither the BBC website or the Economist seem to put one in. I always thought that

The piece of string was no longer than five inches.

should not have one, but

After I cut it, the string was no-longer whole.

needed one, because longer is a comparative. Certainly when I read the two sentences above aloud I put a different emphasis on the words.

Does anyone know if this is or was common? I'm from the UK, if that makes a difference to the answer.

Best Answer

Like any other, no longer is a set phrase meaning 'not now as formerly', but it is not a 'word' formed by hyphenation.

Like no longer there are many other phrases formed with 'no' : no less, no more, no man, no sooner ...

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