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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Hyphen with two words. help!

Hi,

I know that it is "a computer-mediated system."

But what about "an ethanol technology-mediated system" or "an ethanol-technology-mediated system"?

I think it is the former, but I am confused.

Thanks.
  

Top answer

" This sounds OK. But what about "an ethanol technology-mediated system" or "an ethanol-technology-mediated system"? Does 'ethanol' qualify the word 'system'?

— Clive

  • " This sounds OK.
  • But what about "an ethanol technology-mediated system" or "an ethanol-technology-mediated system"?
  • Does 'ethanol' qualify the word 'system'?
  • Or does it qualify the word 'technology'?
  • Whatever the answer, I have no clear idea what this phrase means.
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6 Answers
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Hi,

I know that it is "a computer-mediated system." This sounds OK.

But what about "an ethanol technology-mediated system" or "an ethanol-technology-mediated system"?

Does 'ethanol' qualify the word 'system'? Or does it qualify the word 'technology'?

Whatever th
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Hi,

The question was more about the hyphen, not the meaning.

It is a system mediated by ethanol technology (this is something I just came up with for this example).

So in this case, I want to know if it is ""an ethanol-technology-mediated system" or "an ethanol technology-mediated system."

Basically, I want to know if there is a need for the double hyphen...
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Hi,

If you want to write it that way, use the extra hyphen.
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So, technically, use the extra hyphen--"an ethanol-technology-mediated system," but because it looks so awkward, use "a system mediated by ethanol technology?

Please confirm..

I agree that the latter sounds much better, but I also wanted to know the "technical" correctness of this usage.

Thanks.
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Hi,

Yes.

I suppose there is no 'technical' reason for not stringing eg 20 words together with hyphens, but I hope you can see that that would not be a good idea.

Clive
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Thank you so much, Clive, for your knowledge!
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