Learning how to use the word turn widely/narrowly

  1. Turn the right corner as widely as possible.
  2. Turn the right corner as tightly/narrowly as possible.
  3. I need to learn how to make a wide turn at traffic light.
  4. I need to learn how to make a tight/narrow turn at traffic light.

Can I phrase the above sentences in such fashion? Please advise.

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Can you give us some information as to how you want to use these statements?

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Leave as much distance as possible when turning right.

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In mathematical terms, tightly or narrowly is a smaller radius. Widely is a larger radius.

This would commonly refer to which lane you turn into when it’s possible to turn into two different lanes. In some US states it’s a law that a driver must turn into the nearest lane when turning from a one lane road to a two lane road. In other states it’s legal to turn into either lane. Although even where it’s illegal to turn into the far lane, the law is not enforced and people very commonly do it anyway.

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I often fail to understand why words are not hyphenated. Many users of English seem to follow this pattern and forget about or be oblivious of the punctuational requirement. Has this trend become acceptable, @Alan and @NearlyNapping and @Arinker
(My students and friends have also raised this question; let’s have a fruitful discussion!)

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With hyphenation, I mostly go by whatever looks right. Occasionally I look it up, if neither way looks right.

I did a little digging into this. I first checked the study manual for getting a driver license. It does have one-lane hyphenated. Same with one-way.

I checked some other sources and they are mixed. They generally agree that hyphenation is complicated and fluid. A couple of dictionaries I checked said they constantly update compound words. The main entry will use the current most commonly used version. An alternative form may or may not be listed. It was made clear that just because one form is listed, it does not mean other forms are not used.

Multiple sources mentioned a common trend for compounds to start as open compounds ( one way for example ), then become hyphenated ( one-way ), then become a single word ( oneway ).

Sources also pointed out a lot of apparent contradictions.
Front seat is almost always open.
On the other hand, backseat is common, although far from being used exclusively.

The same with:
Front yard
Backyard

The are a large number of contradictions like this. They can’t be easily explained. That’s just how people do it.

Personally I would always use “one-way”. However I may use either “one lane” or “one-lane”. To me, they are not really the same thing. I suppose in my mind “one lane” or “two lanes” can stand alone. Whereas “one way” can not.

I use whatever looks right. One of the dictionaries I checked said almost the same thing. They said the “rules” on hyphenation are complicated, inconsistent, dynamic, and “soft” rules. So for many people the best “rule” is to use whatever looks right. Of course this comes from a dictionary, which are not rules based, but usage based. I’ve noticed in my lifetme that dictionaries are actually pretty quick at updating to the most recent changes in usage.

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