follow up vs. followup

[wynter]

After over a year of studying and 1-1/2 years as an MT, I still screw up followup versus follow up from time to time.

I know "follow up" is a verb and "followup" is a noun/adjective but was still having some trouble.

Finally, something Rennie said to me the other day made it more clear. Her suggestion was to place a different noun or verb in its place. For example, use eat. He will followup/follow up next week. If you place "eat" in the sentence, "He will eat next week." you know it is a verb because the sentence still makes sense.

I hope I explained that well enough. Rennie, feel free to clarify if not.

Thanks Rennie!

[stay4while]

Great tip, Rennie and Wynter!!

[DawnD]

How about where I work they don't use "followup" it's either follow-up or follow up. That was a real hard one for me to fix. I was taught using the BOS and all 3 versions are in there. If you can put an "a" or a "the" in front of it, it's follow-up, if not, it's follow up so I don't have to worry about followup!

[wynter]

I have one account that only wants follow-up and work-up... that one is hard for me because I never use the hyphenated version otherwise.

[barbara]

Hello, In school, I was taught that it would be:
follow-up vist next week (adj.) or do a followup (noun) on tests or follow up (verb)with your doctor

Then I went to work at the hospital, they want just followup for everything except when used as a verb which would be the follow up. My supervisor has set up her own standard of style that we need to follow. Have a great day.

[mttammy]

I haved work in a lot of different accounts for Spheris, and they all have their own ways of doing things So I have a different Instant Text (word expander) glossary for each one. That means if it's "follow-up" and I type "followup" it changes it for me. I love Instant Text; it has saved my butt so many times!

[valeria]

Great discussion! From the Grammar Maven perspective, the two forms that are in current dictionaries are "follow-up" for the noun and adjective forms ("The patient presented for a follow-up examination." "The patient presents for follow-up of earlier treatment.") and "follow up" for the verb form ("We will follow up with a three-week course of medication."). Therefore, the only "right" forms are follow-up and follow up.

We all know that the BOS has put its stamp of approval on "followup" and many facilities use "followup." It may soon start creeping into dictionaries. Meantime, if the facility wants "followup" for the noun or adjective form, they should get "followup" under the principle that "whoever signs the paycheck makes the rules." Otherwise, I'd say, "Go by the standard dictionaries until the dictionaries change."

[mistacious]

which usage is correct?

2 SUBJECTIVE: ___ [NAME] returned to the oncology clinic today for follow up/ followup of her history of breast cancer. She has been doing well physically, although she admits to constant level of high anxiety for fear of having a breast cancer in her right breast. She feels that this is significantly compromising her quality of life. She states she is thinking about this day and night with worry. She is hoping that she can have the right breast resected to reduce her risks of a new breast cancer and also to avoid a right-sided lymphadenectomy. She denies any other problems.

[Rennie]

followup, because is used as noun in this case

May 6, 2009 14:11:56 GMT -5 mistacious said:

which usage is correct?

2 SUBJECTIVE: ___ [NAME] returned to the oncology clinic today for follow up/ followup of her history of breast cancer. She has been doing well physically, although she admits to constant level of high anxiety for fear of having a breast cancer in her right breast. She feels that this is significantly compromising her quality of life. She states she is thinking about this day and night with worry. She is hoping that she can have the right breast resected to reduce her risks of a new breast cancer and also to avoid a right-sided lymphadenectomy. She denies any other problems.

[lvegastheater]

nice info