Sentences with phrase «phrasal adjectives»

One common usage mistake — and a particular obstinacy of the it's - right - because - that's - the - way - I've - always - done - it crowd — is failing to hyphenate phrasal adjectives.

Some usage guides tell writers to decide on a case - by - case basis whether to include hyphens in phrasal adjectives, and suggest including hyphens only where omitting them would cause confusion.

First, Wiens doesn't hyphenate some phrasal adjectives.

If a lawyer doesn't like the hyphens in phrasal adjectives, there's an easy solution to the problem: Rework the sentence by putting the modifying words after the noun.

Theodore Bernstein, John Trimble, R.W. Burchfield, Patricia T. O'Conner, and Bill Walsh also advise following a bright - line rule for hyphenating most phrasal adjectives because, as Garner summarizes, the hyphens make reading faster and easier:

Nothing gives away the incompetent amateur more quickly than the typescript that neglects this mark of punctuation or that employs it where it is not wanted... [The hyphens in phrasal adjectives] warn the reader that he must fuse two ideas before he can perceive how they apply to the subject.

Legal writing is replete with phrasal adjectives like breach - of - contract claims, personal - injury lawyer, subject - matter jurisdiction, civil - rights case, good - faith exception, attorney - client privilege, and work - product doctrine.

According to Garner's Modern American Usage, a phrasal adjective occurs «[w] hen a phrase functions as an adjective preceding the noun it modifies.»

Grammar Monkeys point out that comical ambiguities can occur when a writer fails to include the necessary hyphen in a phrasal adjective: