"Almost-finished" versus "almost finished"

Question

1. I am attaching an almost-finished version of the report.
2. I am attaching an almost finished version of the report.

Which is the preferred form, (1) or (2)? Why?

Answer 1

BEFORE a noun, "almost-finished' is better, since it emphasizes that 'almost' is qualifying 'finished', not 'report'. Not important in this case, but compare 'longest living animal' with 'longest-living animal'.

Answer 2

"almost-finished" is a compound adjective. It is the correct way to say

"I am attaching an almost-finished version of the report".

"almost finished" is not correct in this case. Here's a sentence where you would use "almost finished" without the hyphen:

"I am almost finished with the work."