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When to Use Hyphens: Rules for Multiple-Word Adjectives

January 10, 2013

Sort out these pain-in-the-butt adjective rules once and for all!

Hyphens. Such a tiny punctuation mark, yet hyphens can confound ESL students and L1 speakers alike. Don’t let these little dashes scare you—the rules for their use within multiple‑word adjectives are actually quite simple. It’s just a matter of placement within a sentence. Follow the rules below to achieve hyphenated-adjective perfection!

Rule #1

Use Hyphens Before Nouns

If the multiple‑word adjective comes before a noun, use hyphens. Examples:

  • She gave me an up-to-date report.
  • We used computer-generated images in our presentation.
  • After the reading exercise, answer these follow-up questions.

This rule is especially common with TIME, MONEY, and DISTANCE. Note that adjectives never take an “s.” Examples:

  • We have a five‑minute break in our morning class. (NOT five‑minutes break)
  • The clerk handed me a 100‑dollar bill.
  • I went for a 20‑kilometer run this morning.

What about using adverbs and adjectives together? Be careful here. Most adverb/adjective combinations will NOT be hyphenated. One common exception is with the adverb well. Examples:

  • Lady Gaga is a very famous singer. (NOT very‑famous singer)
  • It’s an environmentally friendly product. (NOT environmentally‑friendly)
  • J.R.R. Tolkien is a well‑known author. (This is the exception.)

Rule #2

Don’t Use Hyphens After Verbs

When the multiple‑word adjective (or phrase involving a quantifier or adjective + noun) comes after the main verb (or is the main verb), do NOT use hyphens. Let’s take a look at the previous examples:

  • Her report was up to date.
  • The images in our presentation were computer generated.
  • We followed up the reading exercise with comprehension questions.
  • Our morning class break is five minutes. (Note: Now that we don’t need a hyphen, we must follow the normal rules for forming the plural, so we need to use an “s.”)
  • The clerk handed me 100 dollars.
  • I ran for 20 kilometers this morning.
  • J.R.R. Tolkien is well known.

Conclusion

Use hyphens if the multiple‑word adjective comes before a noun, otherwise don’t use hyphens. Are there exceptions? Unfortunately, there are always exceptions. For example, the adjective good-looking is always hyphenated, no matter the position in the sentence. (A good-looking guy waved at me this morning. / He is good-looking.) However, I’d say that this rule works more than 90% of the time.

I hope this blog post helped clarify this well‑known problem!

Tanya

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Comments (28)

Anonymous A.(Teacher)

Thank you very much for your help with this tricky grammar topic.

Reply to Comment

Carol C.(Teacher)

Finally got it!!

Angie (Guest)

Thanks! This was very helpful!

Reply to Comment

Brian Myller(Guest)

Thanks for the guidance. Could you please comment on the use of hyphens in the following sentence from a resume bullet:

25 Years of experience applying systems-, decision-, and communication-science to help clients improve venture success.

Thank you!

Reply to Comment

Julie Waterman(Guest)

Thanks, Tanya. Your comments were very helpful. I just have one question: Since 'good-looking' should always have a hyphen regardless of its position in the sentence, why does yourdictionary.com show it without a hyphen in its first listing: http://www.yourdictionary.com/good-looking?

Reply to Comment

Gary Miller(Guest)

I'm struggling with longer phrases, such as 'technical asset renewal programme', which I have seen in a document, where it appears with no hyphens. I think it should be written as 'technical-asset-renewal programme', but I'm not 100% sure of the second hyphen. Can you give any guidance on this, please?

Reply to Comment

Maria (Guest)

'20th-century inspired tapestry' or '20th century-inspired tapestry' or '20th-century-inspired tapestry'? Thank you so much!

Reply to Comment

marci (Guest)

This article is very helpful, indeed :)
Please comment on this sentence, which describes a skill on a CV:
'Cultural knowledge of German-, British English-, French- and European Portuguese-speaking areas.'
Thanks, Tanya!

Reply to Comment

Kathy (Guest)

In talking about a credit card account, would you hyphenate 'new-account offer'? Technically it is an offer for opening a new account, but it just doesn't look right to me with a hyphen. After all, we don't say 'brown-dog hair' vs. 'brown dog hair,' do we? Thanks for your help.

Reply to Comment

James (Guest)

Hi Tanya, I work most of my hours in biology, and there is a disturbing lack of consistency with names in this field. For instance, I've seen the fish Acanthurus olivaceus referred to by the following names: orange-band surgeonfish, orange bar surgeonfish, orangeshoulder surgeonfish and variations of those three names with or without hyphens or word combinations.

There seems to be a recent trend, especially in the US, to combine names as follows: 'broad-leaved' to 'broadleaf' and 'three-spined' to 'threespine'.

Since I want to be consistent, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on what might be the 'right' way to go with hyphens, and combined words. Why would big-scaled and red-bellied have hyphenization and not squaretail and sabrefin?

Reply to Comment

Zeni (Guest)

How to hyphenate this phrase:

sugary-sweet-looking kids
or
sugary sweet-looking kids

(as in: the kids look sweet as sugar)

Reply to Comment
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