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
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
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/