Janet, Dave et al.,
I would agree that rephrasing the construction ("research on water
quality") or omitting 'research' in the prenominal version
("water-quality research") look better as alternatives (that's obviously
just an opinion statement, though). The NYT attempt to split the
difference strikes me as awkward, in part because it implies an
intonation contour that's not appropriate (roughly, "water
QUALITYrelated research").
This would be a lot easier if we just adopted the older German rules for
compound nouns, especially since that would help me meet word limits on
abstracts. It'll never happen, but still....
Sincerely,
Bill Spruiell
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Kehe
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 2:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: hyphens
Janet,
Here's how I have consistently seen the NY Times handle this type of
situation:
water quality-related reseach
Dave
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of
Castilleja, Janet
Sent: Tue 5/19/2009 8:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: hyphens
Yeah, I think it sounds horrible, but the dean of my college wrote it
for a grant application. I'm looking it over for major grammatical
problems, but I'm not sure how much he is really going to let me change.
Janet
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bruce Despain
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 5:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: hyphens
Janet,
I would be tempted to avoid the piling up of adjective modification and
write more simply: "research related to water quality." The formation
of a compound like "water quality" ought to be enough, but then to make
it adjectival (was complement to the verb "relate") seems to leave
nowhere to go. One compound hyphenated compounding suffix that seems to
be accepted in formal writing is "-like." When it is attached to a
hyphenated compound the hyphen is known to turn into an en-dash,
"water-quality-like research." That neat device is not available here,
but maybe it is pressure from such a compound that pushes us to go for
it.
Bruce
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Castilleja, Janet
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 4:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: hyphens
Hello
In the following phrase, "water quality related research," would you
hyphenate any of these words? I'm tempted to do this:
"water-quality-related research."
What do you think?
Janet
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