August 7, 2009
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A Much-Needed Hyphen Tutorial
Aha! We talked about this before, and I got good advice, but @thatwhichmatter settles it:
HYPHEN? [1/3] Use hyphen to join 2+ words serving as 1 adjective before noun. (chocolate-covered pretzel, much-needed vacation)HYPHEN? [2/3] But when they (compound modifiers) come after the noun, they’re not hyphenated. (The vacation to Slovenia was much needed.)
HYPHEN? [3/3] Use a hyphen to qualify an upcoming hyphenated phrase. (The parrot is a ten- or eleven-year-old.)
Point [2/3] was still tripping me up. Thanks, @thatwhichmatter!
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Comments
Slightly complicating point 1, use no hyphen for a compound modifiers that consists of an adverb and an adjective:
"well formed formula"
"much needed vacation"
(There's no question "much" modifies "needed," but it's conceivable one might wonder, without a hyphen, whether the pretzel is both chocolate and covered, or if it is covered in chocolate.)
Further complicating things, there are lots of exceptions:
"grade school students," not "grade-school students" as the rule would seem to call for.
Condensing grammatical advice into tweet form(ula) is a terrific exercise. It's essentially what Strunk and White's The Elements of Style does, which is why that book's simultaneously so beloved and reviled.