3 Rules on “phrasal adjectives”

My LinkedIn tagline says “legal writing coach,” but wait—

Instead, should it say, “legal-writing coach”?

Hmmm.  Let’s look at the 3 rules on “phrasal adjectives”:

1️⃣ 

DO HYPHENATE

When two (or more) words that are NOT commonly used together precede a noun and act as a unit that modify the noun:

DO hyphenate the words in the unit.

E.g.,

✔️ part-time worker
✔️ slippery-floor accident
✔️ six-essay exam

(The hyphenated unit is called a “phrasal adjective,” or a “compound modifier.”)

2️⃣ 

DON’T HYPHENATE

When a noun is preceded by paired words, but one of them modifies the noun and the second one is an adverb that modifies the first word:

DO NOT hyphenate the adverb and the word it modifies.

E.g.

✔️ a quickly descending price
✔️ a wholly owned company
✔️ a fast approaching car

3️⃣ 

??? HYPHENATE ???

Into a third bucket go two-word units that ARE commonly used together.

Although lawyers may debate whether a particular pair contains words that are “commonly used together” enough to be exempt from Rule 1, I see these examples as proper both with and without a hyphen.

E.g.     

✔️ high school teacher
✔️ high-school teacher

✔️ summary judgment rule
✔️ summary-judgment rule

At the end of the day, some writers will hyphenate, and others won’t.

✅ legal writing coach
✅ legal-writing coach

And so, on the choice between “legal writing coach” and “legal-writing coach,” I deem hyphenating “optional” and am not worrying further.

🗳️  But wait, do YOU disagree?  Should I worry?

💌 Amanda

#DearLegalWriter