Is it Up to Date or Up-to-Date? (Grammar, Spelling, Hyphenation, Examples)

Is it up to date or up-to-date? There are a lot of rules that manage hyphenation in the English language. And there also have a lot of exceptions. Some sources suggest adding hyphens to minimize confusion. Yet, there are a few phrases, words, and situations where there is no other option than adding hyphens.

A compound adjective typically adds a hyphen as soon as it comes before the noun, for example, in terms, ‘well-honed.’

The term up-to-date is a good example that needs adding a hyphen. This term can be utilized as both an adjective and an adverb, and the hyphenation lets us easily distinguish which one is the use of compound adjectives and which one is the use of adverbs.

Difference Between Up to Date and Up-to-Date

Let’s take a close look at what ‘up-to-date’ means and ‘up to date’ means.

What Does Up To Date Mean?

The phrase ‘Up to date‘ is used as an adverb. It means to bring something at the present time. For instance, Our manager needed us to bring our up to date accounts reports. It doesn’t take hyphens to use the term as an adverb version.

Examples Using Up To Date In A Sentence

• Be prepared to bring them up to date to us on the improvement of the mid-cycle review.
• Have you brought the up to date timesheet yet? If you haven’t yet, then hurry up and bring the up to date time sheet.
• She brought his colleagues up to date on the latest information on developments in the cellular microbiology field.

NOTE:

As the unhyphenated version of the term ‘up to date’ works as an adverb, you’ll generally find it around a verb(s).

What Does Up-To-Date Mean?

The phrase ‘up-to-date’ is typically an adjective that means something has the newest info. For example, my up-to-date computer has the best available technology in the market.

When you use the term as an adjective, you need to use hyphens.

Examples Using Up-To-Date In A Sentence

• The up-to-date report is available on numerous news websites around the clock, some of which have doubtful journalistic integrity.
• Our up-to-date information will help you get all the latest updates you need.
• The up-to-date therapeutic practices are helping increase the lives of zoo animals.

NOTE:

Since this hyphenated up-to-date version works as an adjective, you’ll typically find it emerging before a noun.

How to Use UP-TO-DATE In Sentences

• The textbook material is as up-to-date as possible, and most chapters provide relevant references.
• When you’re up-to-date concerning something, you must have the latest information.
• The Nurses are responsible for keeping themselves always up-to-date so they can explain what they’re doing and the cause for their actions.
• The textbook is up-to-date with a lot of references, and throughout the textbook, practical use is created for case studies.
• It has the most up-to-date photo of what architects can achieve.
• Although this edition is completely up-to-date on the technological aspects, the experimental side of seed production is somewhat outdated.

In review

Over-the-counter and up-to-date are both phrases that experience hyphenation as soon as they are used as an adjective. By keeping this similar hyphenation grammar rule in mind, you can recognize that up-to-date is the adjective and use the term accordingly.