Without rephrasing, can these be written as such? Is there a rule that prohibits the use of a hyphen after the percent symbol? This obviously is nonfiction. a 23%-per-year increase in spending a 23%-a-year increase in funding a 10%- to 20%-a-year savings Do these forms look okay, especially the last suspended-hyphenation example? Many thanks, victo
Ugh! I'd write all of these without hyphens, with the possible exception of the last one, when I'd probably use: a 10% - 20% per annum saving.
I would definitely take the hyphens out. To me, it just looks messy and distracting. Even though it is nonfiction, it is still easier to read something like this without the hyphens. I agree - this would be ok with just the one hyphen.
And if the "no rephrasing" rule is to be stuck to, then no hyphens anywhere in any of the examples. I'm going to be frank and make it clear that when I see posts that say "no rephrasing" this trips major red flags for me that this is work-work or schoolwork and this is not permitted in the forum. For future reference.
In the future, if you have any questions about hyphens, it might be easier to first look through the Chicago Manual of Style Hyphenation Table.
Nope, not homework at all. I say no rephrase because I'm trying to punctuate commonly uttered phrases and deal with them head-on.
