How to hyphenate this phrase

Question

I know that compound adjectives like "goal-oriented" get hyphenated before a noun, but how would you deal with two sets of compound words that both end in "oriented"?

It would be repetitive to say "solution-oriented and goal-oriented person" so my question is would you write "solution-and-goal-oriented" person or "solution and goal-oriented person" (without hyphenating the first word "solution")?

I think I've seen formatting like " a solution- and goal-oriented person." — Vegawatcher, Jan 21 '22 at 20:24
I smell a resume or cover letter. There's a best practice to show rather than tell. Like announcing I'm a team player and detail-oriented (says you), you could have a bullet prove your claim instead of stating your opinion. Solutions and goals being almost the same, describe your accomplishments in a way that screams how focused your drive is. Just saying. — Yosef Baskin, Jan 21 '22 at 21:27
@Yousef. It's not for a resume. It's a genuine grammatical question. — Rdunn310, Jan 21 '22 at 23:06
Have you done any research on this? If you search this site (and others) for "suspended hyphen", you will find some of discussion of exactly this issue. — MarcInManhattan, Jan 22 '22 at 04:55
Does this answer your question? How to use hyphens appropriately when listing multiple hyphenated terms? — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 22 '22 at 12:11
@MarcInManhattan I honest-to-God tried to search for it but did not know exactly what it was called. I mean, I did find questions on hyphens but not hanging ones..this is a very niche topic and some people are not aware of how exactly to search FOR it, i.e. what specific terms to use, so apologies if this is a duplicate. — Rdunn310, Jan 23 '22 at 13:53
I understand. I wasn’t trying to be critical, just trying to point you in the right direction. — MarcInManhattan, Jan 23 '22 at 23:36
But does the suggested duplicate answer your question? If yes, please close as a duplicate. — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 24 '22 at 12:10

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 22 '22 at 08:22

1

If you write “I am a solution-and-goal-oriented" person you are trying to create a concept of “solution and goal” linked with oriented, and then to associate your linked concept with person. You are trying to imply the structure:
[{solution and goal}-oriented] person

This method fails because the hyphens do not show the structure of your concepts clearly. They obscure it.

If you write solution and goal-oriented person you associate solution with person as if it were an adjective, which it is not. At best you imply that you are a solution person and a goal-oriented person. This was not your intention.

Best is to regard the hyphens as hooks attached to the preceding word. When followed by a space, the hook links to a following word when it comes. The following word is the one that is attached unspaced to the last of the hooked precedents. Hence:
solution- and goal-oriented" person.

This allows you to create even longer (although unattractive) examples such as mission-, solution- and goal-oriented.

answered Jan 22 '22 at 08:22

Anton

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Please check for duplicates. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 22 '22 at 12:11
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@EdwinAshworth Good advice, but as so often happens it is easier to answer a question de novo - and is perhaps more immediately helpful to questioners - than to go on a search for duplicates that may or may not exist and that may or may not fit exactly. So often they don't do either. I realize that this viewpoint conflicts with an ideal of an authoritative "tablets of stone" reference site but I don't see much evidence that people use this site in that way. – Anton Jan 22 '22 at 18:49
Why do you think the duplicate close-vote exists? // The term 'suspended hyphenation' would appear in a solid answer. As would quality supporting references. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 22 '22 at 19:01
How is one to know all these recondite things? One answers questions and hopes other will improve or amplify. It would be best to do that before closing or negating anything. Pedagogic approach: educate first, discipline second; always explain faults, do not merely damn them. – Anton Jan 22 '22 at 19:05
Your answer isn't that bad, but it may well encourage others to flout the rules / recommendations and come up with subjective answers that mislead others. The aim of ELU is to present easily searchable (there are far too many questions/answers on hyphens already: bloat) and suitably endorsed answers, avoiding error and mediocrity (which encourages further mediocrity). Anyway, you've answered ... now time to CV as a duplicate (assuming you haven't). – Edwin Ashworth Jan 22 '22 at 19:16
"subjective"? I prefer "logical". Are you able to refute the logic? That is a question to consider. As to the use of terms such mediocrity, error and bloat I think their undefined subjectivity to well transcend the aims of the site. – Anton Jan 22 '22 at 22:06
Read more carefully. '[I]t may well encourage others to flout the rules / recommendations and come up with subjective answers that mislead [yet] others ...'. There have been many answers on the site that reduce the credibility aimed for. That's why all answers are preferably supported by respected references. ELU is not primarily a Q & A site, though that is the instrument used and every attempt is made to answer reasonable new questions well. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 23 '22 at 19:20
@EdwinAshworth it's OK to have answers while there's a duplicate close-poll running. The question is open and accepting answers, so this discussion is off-topic. – rodorgas Jan 24 '22 at 01:33

How to hyphenate this phrase

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