Dtwx Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Discrepancies with hyphenated adjectives
I know two-word adjectives are supposed to be hypenated. For example:
* doctor-approved diet
* double-checked report
* 64-bit operating system
* open-source software
* animal-free circus
* two-word adjective (ha!)
However, it seems that the hyphen is often omitted in other descrptions, especially in the technical fields. For example, I've never seen "2-TB hard drive" in electronics catalogs; it's always "2 TB hard drive." I've also never seen people write "3-GHz processors," "32-GB memory sticks," "500-mW lasers" and such.
This would be gramatically ambigious. "The store sells 2 TB hard drives" could be interpreted as "The store sells two of something called a 'TB hard drive,'" although common sense tells us otherwise. However, I can't seem to understand why hyphens are usually left out in cases like this. Is there a special reason? Or is it just a common mistake that has become a habit?
* doctor-approved diet
* double-checked report
* 64-bit operating system
* open-source software
* animal-free circus
* two-word adjective (ha!)
However, it seems that the hyphen is often omitted in other descrptions, especially in the technical fields. For example, I've never seen "2-TB hard drive" in electronics catalogs; it's always "2 TB hard drive." I've also never seen people write "3-GHz processors," "32-GB memory sticks," "500-mW lasers" and such.
This would be gramatically ambigious. "The store sells 2 TB hard drives" could be interpreted as "The store sells two of something called a 'TB hard drive,'" although common sense tells us otherwise. However, I can't seem to understand why hyphens are usually left out in cases like this. Is there a special reason? Or is it just a common mistake that has become a habit?
Top answer
Perhaps it is because "they" are writing for and understand each other. I think they would write "The store sold 2 1TB hard drives" or "The store sells 2TB hard drives" and there would be no ambiguity (at least to them).
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Perhaps it is because "they" are writing for and understand each other.
I think they would write "The store sold 2 1TB hard drives" or "The store sells 2TB hard drives"
and there would be no ambiguity (at least to them).
I think they would write "The store sold 2 1TB hard drives" or "The store sells 2TB hard drives"
and there would be no ambiguity (at least to them).
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