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In the sentence:

That was my very first phone.

should the words "very" and "first" be hyphenated?

I've read that "first" and "ever" should be hyphenated, but what about "very" and "first"?

GileBrt
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Bosley
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2 Answers2

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'Very' and 'first' should not be hyphenated. 'Very' is an adverb and grades the adjective/number 'first'.

I have never heard that 'first' and 'ever' should be hyphenated. Not in British English anyway.

http://www.glossophilia.org/?p=5808

Kate Bates
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  • Why are we supposed to pay any attention to Louise Barder (of glossophilia)? Because she has dual citizenship or because she had a career in classical music? – deadrat Jan 01 '17 at 20:09
  • I downvoted because, as deadrat says, the source seems to basically be one person's opinion, and I disagree with Barder's argument in the linked post that "first ever" is somehow improper because "first" is an "absolute adjective" that cannot be modified. I thin the argument is silly because there are obviously different kinds of firsts: you for example speak of "the first phone that I bought on my own", which might be different from "my first phone". The relative clause "that I bought on my own" modifies the meaning of "first" here, so it is evidently not impossible to modify it. – herisson Jan 01 '17 at 21:57
  • People saying that tautologies are always wrong don't seem to be aware of the pragmatic aspects of the language. 'Very' may judiciously be used as a pragmatic emphasiser, when one considers double-bolding or switching to a bright red typeface perhaps too in-the-face. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 26 '19 at 11:06
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Hyphenation is a matter of punctuation, and punctuation is a matter of style, so you should be guided by your manual of style. I prefer the Chicago Manual of Style, which does not list first ever as a compound noun and would thus not advise a hyphen in a sentence like

It was the first ever.

Supposing that ever is interpreted as an adjectival abbreviation for ever-seen, the CMS would consider the term a compound of the class adverb not ending in -ly followed by an adjective, and the advice would be to hyphenate:

It was the first-ever occasion.

The Ngram viewer find plenty of examples of both forms, so it's up to you (or your editor).

deadrat
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  • But what about "very first"? – herisson Jan 01 '17 at 21:57
  • @sumelic Great start for the new year. CMS would say the same for very first, adverb, not -ly + adjective. – deadrat Jan 01 '17 at 23:01
  • I wondered if "very" might count as a special adverb that wouldn't be hyphenated even though it doesn't end in -ly. For some reason, "very-first" looks wrong to me. – herisson Jan 02 '17 at 00:34