Posted by bigbooknerd on April 15, 2006, 2:30:54, in reply to "Dashes" My dad has a dead-end job. If you write, "My dad has a dead end job." What you are actually saying is that your dad has a dead job, which is also an end job. When you have two adjectives describing the same noun, they will be separated by commas. My sister has brown, beautiful hair. This sentence says that my sister has brown hair, which is also beautiful hair. Here's another example of using a hyphen to show that two adjectives are working together as one word to modify a noun: This test will have long-term effects on my confidence. I don't want to say that the test will have long effects, or that it will have term effects. I want to say that it will have both together as one word, because it means something completely different. I hope I didn't confuse you even more!
I think you're referring to the hyphen. When you have a two word adjective describing a noun, you must use a hyphen to help the reader know that these two adjectives are working as one word to describe the noun. For example: 
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