Punctuation Tip: Compound Adjectives
Punctuation Tip for Compound Adjectives.
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A compound adjective is an adjective that contains two or more words. They are often linked together with a hyphen to avoid confusion.
Look at the difference in meaning between these two sentences. Do you see how a hyphen affects the meaning?
• I saw a man-eating alligator.
• I saw a man eating alligator.
Use a hyphen when the compound adjective comes before the noun it modifies but not when it comes after the noun.
• The Louvre is a world-famous museum.
• The well-known University of Kentucky has a good basketball team.
When the compound adjectives are positioned after the noun, the hyphen is usually not used. In the below example, "University of Kentucky" is the noun, and "well known" comes after the noun, so no hyphen is used.
• University of Kentucky is well known for its basketball team.
Compounds adjectives with numbers need hyphens when modifying a noun.
• Joe went on a five-day boat trip.
• Sam had a two-year contract with his mobile phone provider.
• Let's take a five-minute break.