Do compound adjectives need to be hyphenated when they act as object complements?

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dtran1119  #547552  Mon, 28 Jul 08 06:58 PM
I know the rule that we're supposed to hyphenate compound adjectives when they appear before a noun and not after a noun.

For example:

"My parents want me to attend a well-known university."
"The school I attend is well known."

However, do we hyphenate compound adjectives that act as object complements? Since they appear after a noun, does that mean that they should not be hyphenated?

Which one is correct?

1) "We should have school year-round."
2)
"We should have school year round."

Thanks for your help!
  
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Mr Wordy  #548011  Tue, 29 Jul 08 01:57 PM

dtran1119
I know the rule that we're supposed to hyphenate compound adjectives when they appear before a noun and not after a noun.

For example:

"My parents want me to attend a well-known university."
"The school I attend is well known."

Adverb-adjective compounds, as you have here, are often not hyphenated, even when they precede a noun. For example: "clearly defined rule", not "clearly-defined rule".

I've never really thought about it too much before, but off the top of my head it seems that shorter adverbs, especially those not ending "-ly", are more likely to be hyphenated in combination. For example, I think I would use a hyphen in "often-quoted passage" but I definitely wouldn't in "frequently quoted passage". "Well" is normally hyphenated in compounds peceding the noun, as in your example.

I would always use a hyphen when there is otherwise a risk of ambiguity or misassociation. For example, "fast-talking politician", not "fast talking politician".

dtran1119
Which one is correct?

1) "We should have school year-round."
2) "We should have school year round."

In this case I would definitely use a hyphen. Otherwise there is a real risk of "school year" being read as one unit. However, in "We should leave the building perfectly intact" I would not use a hyphen.

A good rule of thumb in cases of doubt: if the sentence is significantly easier to parse with a hyphen, then use one.

  
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Anonymous  #558965  Tue, 26 Aug 08 08:28 PM
"year round" is correct.
In "We should have school year round", "year round" is a compound adverb, which generally are not hyphenated when they follow a noun.
  
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