Hyphenated Adjectives

Reposted from forum "sticky."

Hyphenated adjectives should be hyphenated. Just because you don't know how to use a hyphen isn't an excuse to ignore the necessary hyphen within hyphenated adjectives.

Combinations of words that precede and jointly describe a noun should be hyphenated. For example:

easy-to-read content
one-of-a-kind dog
much-needed hyphens
well-written script

However:
Your content is almost always easy to read.
My dog, Blaze, is one of a kind.
Hyphens, much needed in the writing world, are often neglected.
If I wrote a script, it would probably not be well written.

Here are even better examples and a more complete explanation. It's short and not too pedantic, so I encourage you to take the little quiz included:

http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/040201.htm

In addition, if you're making up an adjective that is a string of words, it requires hyphens:

too-expensive-for-words truffle sauce

a very Doctor Zhivago-meets-I Love Lucy movie

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