English is a “living” language and as such is constantly evolving. Rules one year become guidelines (or should that be guide-lines?) the next and in no time at all evolve into single words. Keyboard is a classic.
We are taught (or rather not taught, nowadays, for grammar is a forgotten element of most English classes) that there are three forms of compound words.
Closed: examples being notebook, childlike, etc.
Hyphenated: examples being mass-produced, master-class, etc.
Open: examples being post office, prime minister, etc.
Like so many grammatical issues, personal taste (or the in-house rule at an agency or publisher) is a major factor. There are no hard and fast (let alone hard-and-fast!) rules, but one thing that is needed is consistency. Don’t say daughter-in-law in one sentence and daughter in law in the next!
Rules come and go, and what is acceptable in England may not be acceptable in the US.
I’d say just use common sense.
A child is eight years old. But she is an eight-year-old child.
Easy enough, you might think.
Sometimes the hyphen is pretty much down to personal choice, but at other times it can be essential for clarity.
Are there some eight-year-old children in the room, or eight year-old children in the room?
I like to set my class the task of writing a description of first a used-car salesman, then a used car-salesman.
Needless to say the first man was an Arthur Daley figure who sold dodgy second-hand cars.
The second man, poor soul, led a life of misery at the hands of wife, girlfriend or employer despite his job selling the very latest models.
Prefixes can be more challenging.
Prolife just doesn’t work. Pro-life does.
Coauthor doesn’t. Co-author does.
Let common sense prevail.
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compound modifiers
25 Feb 2011, 17:17
You asked for it!
