well edited vs well-edited

[Kansas City Teacher]

About those hyphens!

Hyphenated words with "well" are not errors even if they aren't modifying a noun because some online dictionaries list them as hyphenated words. Therefore, don't count these as errors. It's only an error if there is a noun being modified and the reviewer doesn't hyphenate it. Some stylebooks advise us to hyphenate well in a compound modifier both when it precedes a noun and when the compound follows the verb.

Example:
Correct: The performance was well rehearsed.
Correct: The performance was well-rehearsed.
Correct: The well-rehearsed orchestra sounded nice.
Incorrect: The well rehearsed orchestra sounded nice.

This is only for words with "well." For others in question, if we can find anywhere on the internet (reputable) that shows the words as hyphenated, we don't consider that an error.

[Samuel Mamo]

You gave us the issue to learn from. I also grasp a good lesson from the comments about conpound modifiers

[Leonie Vermaak]

I've learned quite a lot now. Thanks for all the examples and help. This definitely will make my life easier in the future.

[Huini Hellen]

I think you should use grammar checkers to edit your work. These problems will be easily cured

I used scribens online grammar checker and it did not find anything wrong in my sentence, "I give this book 4 out of 4 stars as it has been well-written and exceptionally well edited."
I would've been marked down had I not found this extremely well-explained thread!

"Well-written" is without doubt incorrect because it does not precede any noun being modified. Exceptionally well edited is correct.

A rule of thumb is that compound modifiers should be hyphenated if they precede the noun being modified, for example:
1. A bullet-riddled car
2. An out-of-hand situation.
However, if the first word in the modifying phrase is an -ly adjective, a hyphen should not be used.
Incorrect: A brightly-lit room.
Correct: A brightly lit room.

Also, hyphens must be used where they are necessary for the clarity of the whole sentence.
A case in point is where you mean "sign a document again". You will say "The manager wants to re-sign from yesterday's work" and not "The manager wants to resign from yesterday's work" since the second has a different meaning.

I hope this will help, but I will update more rules soon.

Wow! This has been very helpful. If I had encountered this thread sooner, I'd have avoided the various dents on my score cards. Thank you very much.

[Rakesh+12345]

You are very cooperative with each other.I'm new here and wanted to learn something new from you as an international community.