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I've seen it used both ways, but I'm wondering what is the proper way to punctuate phrases with adverbs and words like "based".

example would be: academically-based instruction vs. academically based instruction

newly-identified disease vs. newly identified disease

Thank you.

Evan
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    The usual rule of thumb is to favour These are academically-based* instructions* when it comes before the referent noun, as opposed to These instructions are academically based**, where the noun comes first. – FumbleFingers Jan 09 '19 at 17:05
  • Thank you. I'm wondering then if this website is inaccurate that says: An often overlooked rule for hyphens: The adverb very and adverbs ending in ly are not hyphenated. Incorrect: the finely-tuned watch https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp – Evan Jan 09 '19 at 17:26
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    Dunno about "inaccurate". It's true you'll probably never come across a hyphen between *very* and the following adjective, but anyone who thinks *a finely-tuned machine* is actually "incorrect" is just overstating the case for his particular preferred *Style Guide*. – FumbleFingers Jan 09 '19 at 17:45
  • Evan, most of the advice on that page is excellent; the rule you cite is the only one I would sometimes disagree with (I'd say that hyphen is unnecessary rather than incorrect in the watch example). For example rapidly-congealing or warmly-received. [ edit: にんじゃd by @FumbleFingers, who is quite right (it is only advice) ] – Will Crawford Jan 09 '19 at 17:47
  • Yes, compound words, like the adjective "academically-based" are normally hyphenated. – BillJ Jan 09 '19 at 18:56
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    @FumbleFingers That rule of thumb applies when the first member of the compound adjective is itself a noun or an adjective; it does not apply so frequently when the first element is an adverb, especially one in -ly, because it’s arguably not a compound adjective in such cases, but simply an adjective modified by an adverb. Personally I would never use a hyphen in cases like academically based, though I would in well-behaved (even predicatively). – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 09 '19 at 23:13
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    I don't know of any style guide that would say to use a hyphen. From The Chicago Manual of Style: "Compounds formed by an adverb ending in ly plus an adjective or participle (such as largely irrelevant or smartly dressed) are not hyphenated either before or after a noun, since ambiguity is virtually impossible. (The ly ending with adverbs signals to the reader that the next word will be another modifier, not a noun.)" The Associated Press Stylebook also says not to hyphenate in this case. – Jason Bassford Jan 10 '19 at 02:41
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    Incidentally, this should not have been marked as a duplicate of the question it was. This isn't about compound adjectives in general, but specifically about compound adjectives that start with an ly adverb. – Jason Bassford Jan 10 '19 at 02:46
  • As Jason Bassford and Janus Bahs Jacquet indicate, different issues involving the hyphenation of compound modifiers prompt different advice in style guides. To the extent that your question is about compound modifiers whose first element ends in -ly, I recommend that you consult my answer to Should there be a hyphen in expressions such as "currently-available X"? As that answer documents, Chicago, AP, Oxford, and Garner all reach the same conclusion (namely, "No"). – Sven Yargs Jan 10 '19 at 05:14

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According to the New York Times: "In general, assume you can go without a hyphen unless a modifying phrase or expression would truly be confusing or hard to read without it.... A hyphen is never necessary in compound modifiers with an adverb ending in -ly."

https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/hyphens-run-amok/ (The article evaluates 7 examples where hyphens were not necessary—or simply incorrect.)

Style guides might vary, but this NYT advice matches what I've been taught and has passed muster with copy editors of academic-journal articles and books I've coauthored.

James D
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  • +1 I don't know of any style guide that says to use a hyphen in this case. As I mention in a comment under the question itself, The Chicago Manual of Style says not to hyphenate. The Associated Press Stylebook also says not to hyphenate in this case. – Jason Bassford Jan 10 '19 at 02:44