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If I attach "-based" to a compound noun, should I put a hyphen between every word? As in:

I worked for a University of Oxford-based company

Or:

I worked for a University-of-Oxford-based company

Granted, there are probably better ways of phrasing this. I'm just curious what the prescriptive usage on hyphens would be in this situation.

Lou
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  • Does this answer your question? Use of a hyphen with the word "based" – skippy619 Dec 11 '19 at 16:02
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    Because "University of Oxford" is a multiple-word proper name, I don't think that the linked question (which involves the word string "spherical Gaussian based") is entirely on point. I provided the only answer to that question, so I feel emboldened to point out that the most suitable punctuation in the present case (according to U.S. style guides, anyway) would be a single en dash (not a hyphen) after the word "Oxford": "I worked for a University of Oxford–based company." If I can find a better match on EL&U to this particular question, I will add a link to it. – Sven Yargs Dec 12 '19 at 01:54
  • In that specific phrase, you could either rephrase it or use an en dash (instead of a hyphen). I agree that the linked question is not the same. How do I hyphenate an open-form compound word with another that should be hyphenated? is more relevant. I have voted to reopen this so it can be more appropriately closed. – Jason Bassford Dec 15 '19 at 21:35

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