Are these punctuated correctly (after the verbs, i.e., no hyphens)? The words are in boldface font. He is old fashioned. But: old-fashioned ideas She is well known, well educated, and well thought of. But: a well-known, well-educated, well-thought-of person Her explanation was dead on. But: a dead-on explanation He was ill equipped for the job. But: an ill-equipped mechanic Her face was beet red. But: a beet-red face The test was fill in the blank. But: a fill-in-the-blank test The test was multiple choice. But: a multiple-choice question ****General Rule: And if a dictionary lists a word as a hyphenated adjective, we do NOT hyphenate it after a to-be verb or other verb, correct? Example: old-fashioned (adj.) He had old-fashioned ways. (Hyphens.) But: He was old fashioned. (No hyphens.) Correct to everything above? Thank you.
The "fill-in-the-blank" case is an exception because of the word "fill," which can be mistaken as functioning as a verb. The hyphens are included there for clarity. In the first example, "old-fashioned" is actually a compound word, and I would leave the hyphen. But it looks like modern English is moving away from this practice, so I suppose it could go either way. Everything else I agree with.
The second one (with the hyphen). For a more detailed explanation of when to use hyphens and when not to, check out this page from Oxford Dictionaries.
