Timeline for Hyphen or no hyphen when modifying an adjective with an intensifier / downtoner?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
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| Apr 15, 2011 at 16:22 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | There's also the fast-dyeing rabbit, which (assuming it's not just a spelling mistake) would conjure up another whole swathe of alternative readings involving permanence as well as speed. | |
| Apr 15, 2011 at 16:14 | history | edited | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2011 at 15:58 | comment | added | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | @mg: Ehm, I'd probably take it as an omitted hyphen then: the rabbit was fast dying. But that depends on context. // That isn't the Oxford comma, though, which is used before "and" and "or" in enumerations of three or more items: "I like beetles, bumblebees, and butterflies". The comma before "and" is the Oxford comma; the one after "beetles" is nothing special, nor is the one in "the fast, dying rabbit". | |
| Apr 15, 2011 at 15:49 | comment | added | mfg |
For the A fast dying rabbit example, which stylistic tendency do you think is more at work if neither hyphen nor comma are present; oxford-comma-type omission of the comma or less-confusion-is-better omission of the hypen?
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| Apr 15, 2011 at 15:46 | history | edited | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2011 at 15:39 | history | answered | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | CC BY-SA 3.0 |