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I have been reading almost all the rules on hyphens I could find, but I am still unsure about some examples pertaining two nouns that consist of two words. Which of the following variants would be preferable:

  1. I am doing machine learning research.
  2. I am doing machine-learning research.

I tend towards 1. because the noun is machine learning, and, to my understanding, there is no ambiguity in the phrasing, rendering the hyphen redundant. Is my reasoning correct and could someone point me towards an authoritative source?

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  • Are you aiming at a readership who knows what "machine learning" is?
    – KillingTime
    Commented May 13 at 7:53
  • 2. Is correct, but "machine-learning" is not a compound noun but a verb-centred compound adjective. Other similar verb-centred compound adjectives include", cost-cutting" and "fact-learning". Note the hyphens.
    – BillJ
    Commented May 13 at 10:07
  • @KillingTime Yes, I am.
    – Gnosophilon
    Commented May 13 at 12:25
  • @BillJ Sorry, I'm not sure I understand this. I'd reformulate the sentence as "A researcher in machine learning." Your other examples do not necessarily work like this unless I'm mistaken.
    – Gnosophilon
    Commented May 13 at 12:27
  • Yes, for 'cost-cutting' at least: 'an exercise in cost cutting'. In this sentence, the hyphen is optional Many would here see cost[-]cutting as a compound noun, optionally open or hyphenated.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 13 at 13:16

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