Okay, after taking a pause, I did come back and view the video. I'll test out the theory by setting my alarm 30-minutes prior to beer o'clock and see what happens...
You're on my blog now, not your own, so let's talk about that hyphen!
The rule is that you hyphenate phrasal adjectives that precede the nouns they modify. So ask yourself: is the phrase "30-minutes" an adjective phrase modifying the noun "prior (to)"? Obviously not! "Prior" is itself an adjective! What type of word modifies adjectives? Why, adverbs, of course! So "30 minutes" is actually an adverbial phrase and therefore not functioning as an adjective. No hyphen!
Here's how to do it right:
a three-hour trip a week-long orgasm an uncalled-for remark a tax-paying citizen a no-holds-barred match high-school shenanigans
The words trip, orgasm, remark, citizen, match, and shenanigans are all nouns, which makes the phrases that precede and modify them all adjectival. Because those phrases (phrasal adjectives) come before the nouns they modify, they're hyphenated. That's how it works.
QUIZ (from your blog)! Are these phrases wrong, and if so, how should you correct them?
1. my bought and paid for retirement home 2. dance show experience 3. all-day-long cross-country drives 4. a bottle opener necklace 5. well-marked trail 6. waist-deep water 7. end-of-the-trail gathering 8. after circle beers 9. my tree climbing ability
That's a sampling from just your two most recent posts. Be careful: for the ones that are wrong, not every word always needs to be hyphenated. Here's a made-up example (see what I did there?) to show you what I mean:
INCORRECT PHRASE: our catnip addicted cat WRONG CORRECTION: our-catnip-addicted cat The "our" is a separate possessive adjective. CORRECT CORRECTION: our catnip-addicted cat "Catnip-addicted" is a single concept held together by the hyphen.
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I saw it way back then and thought it was good. I just can't remember why now.
ReplyDeleteOkay, after taking a pause, I did come back and view the video. I'll test out the theory by setting my alarm 30-minutes prior to beer o'clock and see what happens...
ReplyDeleteYou're on my blog now, not your own, so let's talk about that hyphen!
ReplyDeleteThe rule is that you hyphenate phrasal adjectives that precede the nouns they modify. So ask yourself: is the phrase "30-minutes" an adjective phrase modifying the noun "prior (to)"? Obviously not! "Prior" is itself an adjective! What type of word modifies adjectives? Why, adverbs, of course! So "30 minutes" is actually an adverbial phrase and therefore not functioning as an adjective. No hyphen!
Here's how to do it right:
a three-hour trip
a week-long orgasm
an uncalled-for remark
a tax-paying citizen
a no-holds-barred match
high-school shenanigans
The words trip, orgasm, remark, citizen, match, and shenanigans are all nouns, which makes the phrases that precede and modify them all adjectival. Because those phrases (phrasal adjectives) come before the nouns they modify, they're hyphenated. That's how it works.
QUIZ (from your blog)! Are these phrases wrong, and if so, how should you correct them?
1. my bought and paid for retirement home
2. dance show experience
3. all-day-long cross-country drives
4. a bottle opener necklace
5. well-marked trail
6. waist-deep water
7. end-of-the-trail gathering
8. after circle beers
9. my tree climbing ability
That's a sampling from just your two most recent posts. Be careful: for the ones that are wrong, not every word always needs to be hyphenated. Here's a made-up example (see what I did there?) to show you what I mean:
INCORRECT PHRASE: our catnip addicted cat
WRONG CORRECTION: our-catnip-addicted cat
The "our" is a separate possessive adjective.
CORRECT CORRECTION: our catnip-addicted cat
"Catnip-addicted" is a single concept held together by the hyphen.
So please don't over-hyphenate. Good luck!