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Snarf Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

The Noun of Selling Out

Is the informal use of "sell out," used as a descriptive noun, okay as two words rather than hyphenating it for its adjectival compound form, or does it not even matter either way since it's informal? For example, in cases such as:

"He's a sell out."

Or:

"That sell out!"

Thanks.
  

Top answer

You need the hyphen. The context rescues you in your first example. The second one looks more like comment on sales.

— Anonymous

  • You need the hyphen.
  • The context rescues you in your first example.
  • The second one looks more like comment on sales.
  • (admittedly the grammar would be terrible, but without the hyphen 'sell' really looks like a verb)
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2 Answers
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You need the hyphen. The context rescues you in your first example. The second one looks more like comment on sales. (admittedly the grammar would be terrible, but without the hyphen 'sell' really looks like a verb)
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Oh, you do? Even though it's not referring to a betrayal but rather an actual person? While I was waiting for someone to answer, I found this article. Is it wrong? Probably not, I guess, since it has the exact same context as my first example, and so it isn't needed:

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