Question

Hey everybody,

I have a question about compounds...
I think I illustrate it to you best with an example:

in "an off-campus apartment"
off-campus is written with a hyphen
BUT in "The apartment is off campus" we wirte it without an campus.

why is it that way?
I read that in 99% of all cases we use the hyphen when the adjectiv compound is before the noun. Is there a rule how to handle it when the compound is behind the noun?

I hope someone can help me :)
Marie

Answer 1

If the phrase comes after the noun, it is not hyphenated.

Answer 2

Check a dictionary to be sure.

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp

Answer 3

I saw this page, too but wasn't sure wether it is a always the case that it isen't hypaneted.
Dict.leocsaid that there are some cases where it is written with hyphen... Tbe explanation said something like if it is commen to write the word with hyphencit is writtencwoth one after the noun, too. But I wasn't sure about this explanation... can you say something about that?

Answer 4

Yes. If in doubt, look it up in the dictionary. It should tell you whether a word is always hyphenated or not.

One example is T-bone steak. It's always hyphenated.

Answer 5

can you built a sentence where t-none stands after the noun?

Answer 6

I can't think of any.

Answer 7

can you think of any other compound behind a noun that is written with a hyphen?

Answer 8

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm

On this webpage, scroll down to the sections called
Compounds with Prefixes
and
Spelling.

Let us know if you have questions.

Answer 9

I still can`t think of a adjective compound that stands behind the noun... Is it possible that somethink like this exisct? because adjectives give nearer information to nouns and therefor they stand before them, or?