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  1. dillseed

    dillseed Active Member

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    Associated Press Style Question

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by dillseed, Dec 23, 2014.

    The AP Stylebook advises that a compound that’s hyphenated before a noun is also hyphenated following a form of the verb "to be": The man is well-known. The woman is quick-witted. The children are soft-spoken. The play is second-rate.

    Based solely on AP's edict above, would we hyphenate "cutting-edge" and "state-of-the-art" after the "to be" verbs in the two examples below? I think, maybe, yes.

    The technology is
    cutting-edge.

    The software is
    state-of-the-art.

    Thank you.
     
  2. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    Based on the AP guideline, yes, you would need hyphens. For the first example, I would likely use the hyphen anyway because of ambiguity; for example, consider "the cutting edge of the knife..."
     

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