PC based or PC-based

Question

Hi.I would like to refer to a solution that uses PCs in contrary to Servers. Should I use the hyphen, as in "PC-based solution" or "PC based ..". TIA,NoamI used to think the brain was the most wonderful organ in the entire body... then I realized who was telling me this. Emo Phillips

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hi. I would like to refer to a solution that uses PCs in contrary to Servers. Should I use the hyphen, as in "PC-based solution" or "PC based ..".[/nq]
Yes, but you should also understand why the hyphen is appropriate there.
Hint:
"When two or more words are combined to form a compound adjective, a hyphen is usually required."

Michael West

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Hi. I would like to refer to a solution that ... the hyphen, as in "PC-based solution" or "PC based ..".[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, but you should also understand why the hyphen is appropriate there. Hint: "When two or more words are combined to form a compound adjective, a hyphen is usually required."[/nq]
Unfortunately, the "usually" requires a lot of qualification these days. Even in tony publishers' style books, there are many exceptions (it has been a long time since The New York Times was The New-York Times), and in my experience as a copyeditor, most writers don't even know the rule, let alone agree with it. Engineers, in particular, often string as many as a dozen nouns & adjectives together without any attempt to group them, or with sporadic hyphens that only add to the confusion. If the publisher is sufficiently snooty, it will pay a copyeditor to tidy up these "freighttrains".
However, the example queried here represents a partial exception to the chaos. When a noun modifies a participle or other adjectival word, even naive writers are apt to hyphenate the two together, at least when the compound precedes the noun it modifies: blood-red, momentum-dependent, age-appropriate, prize-winning, aluminum-coated, PC-based. Only fanatical hyphen-haters leave the hyphen out of such compounds.
Some style books used to say to use a space when the compound occurs in predicate: It is blood red, PC based. AFAIK few if any people make that distinction these days. I would go for uniform use of the hyphen.

Joe Fineman (Email Removed)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Some style books used to say to use a space when the compound occurs in predicate: It is blood red, PC based. AFAIK few if any people make that distinction these days.[/nq]
I make this distinction, which is sensible in light of the disambiguating function of the hyphen.

Mike Nitabach

Usenet · Answer

Thanks for all the replies.
Noam

PC based or PC-based

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