Use of well-educated

Question

HiWould you say that both of these are fully acceptable?Sara was well-educated.Sara was well educated.Thanks,Tom

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

The general practice is to hyphenate when the expression is a modifier, but not otherwise.

She was a well-educated woman.
She was well educated.

Is it a dog-friendly hotel?
That hotel is dog friendly.

Be careful when working with fast-acting glue.
That yeast is fast acting, so I prefer it.

However, some guides say that an adverb+adjective combination never needs the hyphen:

She was a well educated woman.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

The hyphen is required as a noun modifier (in the pre-position), and not hyphenated (most of the time) when it is a subject complement. It's complicated and controversial and the "rules" are fluid, as you can read in these blog entries on the topic.

https://www.grammarbook.com/blog/adjectives-adverbs/are-we-hyphenating-well/#: :text=The%20Associated%20Press%20Stylebook%20advises,the%20noun%20helps%20avoid%20confusion.

https://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2009/07/a-wellknown-problem-well-known.html

From the first reference:

As a general rule, a compound adjective can include an adverb. The compound is often hyphenated before a noun but not after a noun (a well-dressed man, the man is well dressed). Well also would not be hyphenated when compounded with other adverbial modifiers, such as very (a very well dressed man).
At the same time, further investigation reveals that not all style authorities agree on this subject. The Associated Press Stylebook advises us to hyphenate well in a compound modifier both when it precedes a noun and when the compound follows the verb to be: a well-dressed man, the man is well-dressed.
AP’s rationale is that retaining the hyphen in compound modifiers after the noun helps avoid confusion. For example, if the hyphen is omitted in a statement such as he is a little known man, the reader might interpret it as meaning he is a known man who is little. Adding the hyphen clarifies: little-known man tells us he is one few people know. Writing the man is well-dressed remains consistent with AP’s chosen style.
The Chicago Manual of Style, on the other hand, doesn’t concur with this stance. Its editors find hyphenation unnecessary when a compound modifier with well follows a noun, including compounds that might be hyphenated in dictionaries. It would therefore encourage us to write the man is well dressed.
Other style hawks assert that certain compounds with well should retain their hyphens in all positions because they are single concepts or standard expressions. These individuals would cite examples such as well-appointed, well-founded, well-connected, and well-intentioned; to them, each compound’s meaning differs from its unmodified adjective (appointed, founded, connected, intentioned), making well vital to clarity.
By this reasoning, these compound concepts or expressions would retain their hyphen even when well is modified by another adverb such as very: a very well-appointed man.
With all this considered, we still might ask ourselves: When do we truly need to hyphenate? The experts don’t agree and even seemingly reliable guidelines can have exceptions. The answer is that rules of hyphenation for well are not engraved in stone.

Use of well-educated

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions