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Not sure if I've correctly titled this query; my grammatical lexicon is severely wanting.

The phrase in question is from a short story, and is as follows:

"More likely a second—floor-apartment existence."

My heuristic understanding is that the phrase "second-floor apartment" (sans existence) would be correctly hyphenated, and that the phrase "empty-apartment existence" would be correctly hyphenated (to disambiguate from an empty apartment-existence). What happens when you have, as in the example in question, two words which independently should be hyphenated, and a third which should be hyphenated with them collectively, but not with any of them individually?

I've applied an em dash followed by a hyphen, to distinguish 'second-floor' and 'second-floor-apartment' as separately hyphenated entities... Is that correct?

If someone could articulate why that approach is/isn't correct, it would be greatly appreciated.

Edit* Just to be clear: I am the author, and the phrase refers to an existence characterised by living in a second-floor apartment.

Douglas Catling
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  • It's not possible to figure this out without more context. My guess is the original hyphenation is what the author meant, and he's talking about the life of someone who lives in a second-floor apartment. – Xanne Jun 24 '17 at 05:16
  • I've added in an edit for clarification. – Douglas Catling Jun 24 '17 at 05:29
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    Well then! What you're talking about is second-floor-apartment existence. The problem with this compound adjective is that there are many varieties of second-floor apartments--some elegant, some old and un-modernized, and so forth. But at least to me it's a matter of style, not punctuation. – Xanne Jun 24 '17 at 06:44
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    Possible duplicate of How to connect a word and a phrase with a hyphen?. Also relevant compounds involving compounds. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 24 '17 at 07:18
  • I'm happy that 'second-floor-apartment existence' doesn't need more radical punctuation. In cases where the more cohesive pairing needs emphasis, I believe the convention is to use the hyphen to show this and the dash for the looser link. See Doug's answer here. // Lengthier modifiers (a never-to-be-forgotten experience; a 'Don't-come-the-old-acid-with-me' expression) need to be used judiciously. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 24 '17 at 07:39
  • I've been looking for a style guide advising this. << To join words that are already hyphenated, use an en dash in printed ... >> (Academic Language/Literacy Strategies for Adolescents: A "How-To" ... https:// // //books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=113516410X Debra L. Cook Hirai, ‎Irene Borrego, ‎Emilio Garza - 2013 - ‎Education) but I can't pin down the actual source. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 24 '17 at 08:58
  • "Second-floor-apartment" as a modifier of "existence" seems okay. It's a nonce-formation that is probably best seen as a compound adjective. – BillJ Jun 24 '17 at 09:36
  • This is one of those questions where the 'recommended/preferred answer' (by only the odd style guide, probably) is probably best discarded as not many even able communicators are aware of it. And, judging by my fairly unrewarding efforts, unable to root it out. If the use of >1 hyphen leads to an ambiguous or ludicrous/unwantedly quirky result, I'd rephrase. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 24 '17 at 10:23
  • @DouglasCatling You said you thought that "second-floor apartment" was correctly hyphenated. But I wouldn't go along with that - "second floor" is not a compound word but a syntactic construction comprising head and adjectival modifier, and hence no hyphen is required. – BillJ Jun 24 '17 at 17:35

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