{"id":792,"date":"2014-02-12T10:58:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T18:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/?p=792"},"modified":"2014-02-12T10:58:15","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T18:58:15","slug":"bryan-garners-lawprose-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/2014\/02\/12\/bryan-garners-lawprose-org\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryan Garner’s LawProse.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryan Garner is a lawyer whose range of work on the topics of writing and rhetoric<\/a> is humbling – to me as it should be to you, too. His blog is a gas. Here he is, just the other day, on one of my favourite topics, the hyphen (or, more precisely, hyphens “in phrasal adjectives”<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When a phrase functions as an adjective, the phrase should ordinarily be hyphenated. Professional writers and editors regularly do this. Search for hyphens on a page of the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/i>\u00a0or the\u00a0New Yorker<\/i>\u00a0and you\u2019ll spot many. But less-polished writers often fail to appreciate the difference that adjective can make (consider\u00a0criminal law professors<\/i>\u00a0vs.\u00a0criminal-law professors<\/i>). And for some reason, lawyers resist these hyphens. To prevent miscues and make your writing clearer, you should master the art of hyphenating phrasal adjectives and consider the guiding principles every time you encounter one.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the rule: if two or more consecutive words make sense only when understood together as an adjective modifying a noun, those words should be hyphenated {second-year associate<\/i>,\u00a0case-by-case analysis<\/i>,\u00a0trade-secret protection<\/i>,\u00a0summary-judgment motion<\/i>,\u00a0breach-of-contract claim<\/i>}. [The possible phrases are infinite. For more examples see\u00a0Garner’s Modern American Usage<\/i>\u00a0625-26 (3d ed. 2009);\u00a0The Redbook<\/i>\u00a046-47 (3d ed. 2013);\u00a0The Winning Brief<\/i>\u00a0278-83 (2d ed. 2004).]<\/p>\n

But there are exceptions. Do not hyphenate the phrase in these situations:<\/p>\n

(1) When a phrase begins with an –ly<\/i>\u00a0adverb:<\/b>newly admitted lawyer<\/i>;legally permitted action<\/i>;\u00a0calmly spoken argument<\/i>. An exception to this exception applies when the phrase is longer than two words. Hence:\u00a0poorly-thought-out strategy.<\/i><\/p>\n

(2) When the phrase contains a proper noun:<\/b>\u00a0a\u00a0United States diplomat<\/i>; that\u00a0famous Civil War battle<\/i>; the\u00a0Pablo Picasso painting.<\/i><\/p>\n

(3) When the phrase is borrowed from a foreign language:<\/b>de novo review<\/i>;\u00a0habeas corpus petition<\/i>,\u00a0prima facie case<\/i>.<\/p>\n

(4) When the phrase follows the noun it modifies:\u00a0<\/b>that rule is well known<\/i>\u00a0(vs. a\u00a0well-known<\/i>rule<\/i>);\u00a0a claim of bad faith<\/i>\u00a0(vs. a\u00a0bad-faith claim<\/i>);action for unlawful detainer<\/i>\u00a0(vs.\u00a0unlawful-detainer action<\/i>). But there are some fixed phrases that are invariably hyphenated even if they follow the noun {cost-effective<\/i>,\u00a0old-fashioned<\/i>,\u00a0short-lived<\/i>,\u00a0star-studded<\/i>,\u00a0time-tested<\/i>}. In general, these hyphenated, fixed phrases will be listed in a dictionary.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still uncertain about why you should hyphenate, ponder the plain meaning of\u00a0small animal veterinarian<\/i>,\u00a0high school dropout<\/i>, or\u00a0one armed bandit<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s more<\/a>, all delightful.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

“What distinguishes effective from ineffective legal writers,” notes Garner, “is empathy for the reader.”<\/p>\n

(h\/t LH)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bryan Garner is a lawyer whose range of work on the topics of writing and rhetoric is humbling – to me as it should be to you, too. His blog is a gas. Here he is, just the other day, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[58,76,89],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-roberts-posts","tag-law","tag-plain-english","tag-resources-3"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nocontest.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}