By Hyphens, Constructions

(1) However, after being told she would not be allowed to present the speech herself, that instead it would be read at the assembly by a male student, she turned down the offer. Her future was in public speaking and she would not be denied. Should it be "instead"? Can...

The only time I would use the hyphens would be in a playful, somewhat elaborate construction, for example:You know how it is at the Smith house. Ten children, three or four of them screaming at any given moment, and mother and father dishing out dinner, approval, and smacks alike with a admirably...

Yes, Mr. M. It helps a lot. It kind of engendered some inquiries, though. 1. In your interview in the English-test.net website, you said: From there, it didn't take much thought to realize that I could eliminate the middle man and start my own school, lucrative enough to make Japan a good...

Hi, When we hyphenate the adjectives, the usual reasoning given is that it is done to prevent people from thinking the adjectives modify the noun individually when the adjectives hyphenated should be considered as one word. Fine, but how a person can get confused when taken individually, a...

Maybe by "extending hyphen," Believer is thinking of constructions like this: In the U.S. dog- and cat-loving consumers spend millions of dollars on luxuries for their pets in place of dog-loving and cat-loving ??

I'm afraid you are seeing it the wrong way. The hyphen doesn't extend to the following noun. I can see what you mean though. Sometimes hyphens can lead to some ambiguitiy but I think this tends to happen more when we have hyphenated adjectives followed by nouns, than hyphenation of noun-noun....

Yoong Liat wrote:I've seen such constructions quite often. And if it becomes more and more common, the hyphen may disappear. As you said, a mistake repeated over a long time becomes accepted usage.It has been customary to omit the hyphens for a very long time and I think contrary to what you say...

CJ I don't know whether you have seen such constructions without the hyphen. I've seen such constructions quite often. And if it becomes more and more common, the hyphen may disappear. As you said, a mistake repeated over a long time becomes accepted usage.

Thank you, Nina and Goodman. As to the first question, I want to ask you whether or not this phrasal construction, "during the-period-after-the- surgery," is a properly contructed phrase? If yes, can you give some simple examples? Why not just plainly write it out as "during the period that...

Dear teachers, Is it true that the construction "materially-progressive heaven" is incorrect in English ? First because if we use a hyphen to make a compound modifier both words should modify the noun that follows, which is not the case here since “heaven” can’t be modified by the word ...