0
Shaved Posted 18 years ago
Linguistics Studies

phrasal adjectives, chains of meaning, and hyphenation

0As part of my job, I often come in contact with engineers and biologists who use the adverb 'well' in conjuction with adjectives to modify a noun. Normal stuff, I know. Here's where it gets tricky...02br
02br
00Constuctions such as 01i00well-drained02i00, 01i00well-hidden, 02i00and 01i00well-developed 02i00pop up in the reports I edit all the time.02br
02br
00The way I see it, the only time to hyphenate a group of words that modify a noun is when (a) the words together function as a single adjective (i.e., they don't modify the word individually) and (b) the words don't modify each other (ex. 01i00a somewhat reluctantly formed smile02i00; this is a chain of meaning, not a phrasal adjective).02br
02br
00In cases with 'well,' its clear that the word is functioning as an adverb (modifying the adjective, and thereby creating a chain of meaning), but the other editors in my work group seem to think that my assessment of this is just plain wrong.02br
02br
00help me out... am I just wrong here?0-
  

Top answer

0Although I previously stated in this forum that well does not take the hyphen, just like -ly ending adverbs, I was 100% wrong. I had been thinking much as you do. htm

  • 0Although I previously stated in this forum that well does not take the hyphen, just like -ly ending adverbs, I was 100% wrong.
  • I had been thinking much as you do.
  • htm
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
0Although I previously stated in this forum that well does not take the hyphen, just like -ly ending adverbs, I was 100% wrong. I had been thinking much as you do. 02br
02br
00It's a style issue, but most style guides do support hyphenation with 01i00well02i00.02br
02br
00See this: 01a
0
0lame....02br
02br
00 I can't seem to find any reason why 'well' is the exception here.02br
02br
00"It doesn't have an -ly" is the closest anyone gets to actually explaining why02br
02br
00your links mirror what I've found too. I was hoping you would link me to something I could throw in my coworkers' faces...... sadly, this is not the
0
1blockquote
01cite10Grammar Geek12cite10See this: 11a15010 12a10 - They say that well respected man is incorrect, and that well-respected is correct.12blockquote
10 actually, after examining this page, I'm convinced that they're drawing a secondary distinction.

Related Questions