4 ms·

Using the hyphen in "friendly-looking" is incorrect. The exception for hyphens in compound adjectives is when the first adjective ends in "ly." It should be "fr

by jstalin 13y ago

Using the hyphen in "friendly-looking" is incorrect. The exception for hyphens in compound adjectives is when the first adjective ends in "ly." It should be "friendly looking couch." http://www.grammar.com/compound-adjectives/ http://www.grammar.com/compound-adjectives/

jonnathanson 13y ago
"Friendly-looking" is correct (if a bit archaic), as "friendly" is an adjective, not an adverb. Most "-ly" descriptors are adverbs, and it is indeed incorrect to compound "-ly" adverb-adjective combinations with a hyphen. (For example, "finely-chopped garlic" is incorrect). But adjectives that end in "-ly" can be hyphenated. ("Friendly," "elderly," "dastardly," "squirrelly," "burly," "lovely," "ghastly," "deadly," and so on). These days writers often choose not to hyphenate them, as compound-hyphenation in general is dying out in contemporary usage. It often feels old-fashioned and fussy in informal writing. But there is no rule prohibiting the compound-hyphenation of adjectives with "-ly" endings.
- jstalin 13y ago
  Thanks for the corrections! :)
  - jonnathanson 13y ago
    No worries. I dig the username, btw. :)
bostonpete 13y ago
That rule applies to adverbs. The distinction is admittedly subtle, but this page lists the exception you cited (in rule 5), but also uses "friendly-looking" in an example (in rule 4): http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp
dragonwriter 13y ago
No, if you read your own link, the exception identified is for adverbs that end in "-ly" that are part of a compound adjective. "Friendly", though it ends in "-ly", is an adjective, not an adverb. The "Friendly-looking" in "Friendly-looking couch" is an "adjective + participle" construction, which is hyphenated before the noun. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf
ledge 13y ago
Most hyphenation in compound adjectives occurs when the compound adjective comes before the noun, that is, in the attributive position. As a broad rule, when a compound adjective appears after the noun it modifies, that is, in the predicative position, it will not be hyphenated. That is so arbitrary. Your source and the OP's source are linguistically prescriptive. Prescriptivism is unscientific and it leads to endless spats between groups of people that think the way they learned to speak and write is somehow superior. A better approach is to look at the reality of how native speakers of a language use, pronounce, and write words (descriptivism) and agree that some uses are standard, and some are non-standard. Here are some screenshots of collocation searches involving post-adjectival 'looking' from the excellent COCA... 'good': http://s9.postimg.org/r4cok4spb/good_looking.png http://s9.postimg.org/r4cok4spb/good_looking.png 'nice': http://s9.postimg.org/kcm9ha3pr/nice_looking.png http://s9.postimg.org/kcm9ha3pr/nice_looking.png Here's one for your author's example, "well known" (or "well-known"): http://s9.postimg.org/64wksmr0v/well_known.png http://s9.postimg.org/64wksmr0v/well_known.png Notice that the reality bears almost no resemblance to the prescriptive idea of what's correct and incorrect.

by jstalin 13y ago

jonnathanson 13y ago

"Friendly-looking" is correct (if a bit archaic), as "friendly" is an adjective, not an adverb. Most "-ly" descriptors are adverbs, and it is indeed incorrect to compound "-ly" adverb-adjective combinations with a hyphen. (For example, "finely-chopped garlic" is incorrect). But adjectives that end in "-ly" can be hyphenated. ("Friendly," "elderly," "dastardly," "squirrelly," "burly," "lovely," "ghastly," "deadly," and so on). These days writers often choose not to hyphenate them, as compound-hyphenation in general is dying out in contemporary usage. It often feels old-fashioned and fussy in informal writing. But there is no rule prohibiting the compound-hyphenation of adjectives with "-ly" endings.

jstalin 13y ago
Thanks for the corrections! :)
- jonnathanson 13y ago
  No worries. I dig the username, btw. :)

bostonpete 13y ago

That rule applies to adverbs. The distinction is admittedly subtle, but this page lists the exception you cited (in rule 5), but also uses "friendly-looking" in an example (in rule 4): http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp

dragonwriter 13y ago

No, if you read your own link, the exception identified is for adverbs that end in "-ly" that are part of a compound adjective. "Friendly", though it ends in "-ly", is an adjective, not an adverb. The "Friendly-looking" in "Friendly-looking couch" is an "adjective + participle" construction, which is hyphenated before the noun. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf

ledge 13y ago

Most hyphenation in compound adjectives occurs when the compound adjective comes before the noun, that is, in the attributive position. As a broad rule, when a compound adjective appears after the noun it modifies, that is, in the predicative position, it will not be hyphenated. That is so arbitrary. Your source and the OP's source are linguistically prescriptive. Prescriptivism is unscientific and it leads to endless spats between groups of people that think the way they learned to speak and write is somehow superior. A better approach is to look at the reality of how native speakers of a language use, pronounce, and write words (descriptivism) and agree that some uses are standard, and some are non-standard. Here are some screenshots of collocation searches involving post-adjectival 'looking' from the excellent COCA... 'good': http://s9.postimg.org/r4cok4spb/good_looking.png http://s9.postimg.org/r4cok4spb/good_looking.png 'nice': http://s9.postimg.org/kcm9ha3pr/nice_looking.png http://s9.postimg.org/kcm9ha3pr/nice_looking.png Here's one for your author's example, "well known" (or "well-known"): http://s9.postimg.org/64wksmr0v/well_known.png http://s9.postimg.org/64wksmr0v/well_known.png Notice that the reality bears almost no resemblance to the prescriptive idea of what's correct and incorrect.