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Goronsky Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Forgo hyphenation?

Are these clear without hyphens?

I have an hour and a half rest before I have to go back to work.

What happened to my grammar and punctuation book.

I was expecting a yes or no answer.

It was a do or die situation.

Thank you.
  

Top answer

I would say all would be much clearer with the hyphens. The only ones that might stand without are the second and the fourth ones.

— Wilpeter

  • I would say all would be much clearer with the hyphens.
  • The only ones that might stand without are the second and the fourth ones.
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5 Answers
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I would say all would be much clearer with the hyphens. The only ones that might stand without are the second and the fourth ones.
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I can accept them all as is.
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Rover_KEI can accept them all as is.
Likewise.
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I am obviously out-voted on this, but caution that not everyone is sufficiently adept at reading-in the missing hyphens.
Some alternate thought processes:
“I have an hour before I have to go back to work, so I’ll have a brief rest.”
“What happened to my grammar and punctuation books? Where did I put them?”
“I invited the new girl on a date, by email. I expected a yes but go
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The only one that bothers me slightly is the second. However, I don't think I would address the issue with hyphens. Probably I would write "my book on grammar and punctuation". (It should also have a question mark, by the way.)

On an different point, I feel that "an hour and a half rest" should properly have inserted either an apostrophe-s or the word "of".
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