Hyphenation of a compound that usually would precede a word, but is following it instead

Question

I've done a few searches regarding hyphenation, and while I found the rule saying that a compound functioning as an adjective and preceding the noun will be hyphenated, what happens when that same adjective, due to rules of syntax, is moved to follow the noun? My example is:

This increases the credibility of this article as not only is the interpretation well supported, but ...

I'm leaning toward hyphenation, because the adjective "well-supported" would be hyphenated if the transformation didn't apply, i.e.

The well-supported information

but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks!

Answer 1

This is a matter of style, so consult your style guide, either the one you've adopted or the one thrust upon you. I prefer The Chicago Manual of Style, which, in its 16th edition, section 7.81, has the following recommendation (emphasis mine):

When such compounds [i.e., compound modifiers] follow the noun they modify, hyphenation is usually unnecessary, even for adjectival compounds that are hyphenated in Webster’s (such as well-read or ill-humored).

This general rule is particularized in the table in section 7.85, which applies the above rule to the forms "adverb not ending in -ly + participle or adjective."