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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Letter Writing
Hyphens for two-word nouns as adjectives.
Hi, there,
I'm an editor and understand that compound adjectives work (ten-year-old boy, I'm-not-laughing look). But do these hyphens remain in the case of phrasal nouns that already exist in the dictionary?
For example, "eleventh hour" is a noun in Webster's. So would it be "eleventh-hour reprieve" or "eleventh hour reprieve"?
I can't help but feel that the hyphen in this case is now extraneous.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
I'm an editor and understand that compound adjectives work (ten-year-old boy, I'm-not-laughing look). But do these hyphens remain in the case of phrasal nouns that already exist in the dictionary?
For example, "eleventh hour" is a noun in Webster's. So would it be "eleventh-hour reprieve" or "eleventh hour reprieve"?
I can't help but feel that the hyphen in this case is now extraneous.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Top answer
Use the hyphen: eleventh-hour reprieve; it makes it clearer for reading.
- Use the hyphen: eleventh-hour reprieve; it makes it clearer for reading.
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1 Answers
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Use the hyphen: eleventh-hour reprieve; it makes it clearer for reading.
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