Dear Johanna, It will come as no surprise to you that you are right and they are wrong. The web editors may have their own web-related reasons for such a hyphen-removing rule, but it is not the rule that rules in most other print-related media. JVB At 11:02 PM 3/22/99 -0800, you wrote: >Hi, > >Is it still 'the rule' to hyphenate multi-word modifiers when they occur >in front of their heads, but not after it, as in: > >The child is six years old. >The six-year-old child ... > >This is an extension for a laptop computer. >This is a laptop-computer extension. ? > >I was recently compiling an editing-tips webpage (there it is again!) for >my students, and decided to spell-check it on Netscape. Netscape told me >to remove ALL hyphens in multi-word premodifiers. My word processor >doesn't do this. Is there confusion out there in Webworld? Or in my addled >brain? > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ >English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ >San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ >Tel. (805)-756-2184 Fax: (805)-756-6374 ~ >E-mail: [log in to unmask] ~ >Office hours Winter 1999: Mon/Wed 10:10-11am Thurs 2:10-3pm ~ >Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~ >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > James Vanden Bosch (616) 957-6592 Department of English [log in to unmask] Calvin College fax: (616) 957-8508 Grand Rapids, MI 49546 http://www.calvin.edu/~vand