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Thoughts on the correct hyphenation/no hyphenation of the following phrases, please.

A much needed dose of reflection
A number of near misses

RainyNightDreamer wrote: ↑14 Apr 2023, 19:41 Thoughts on the correct hyphenation/no hyphenation of the following phrases, please.

#1 A much needed dose of reflection
#2 A number of near misses

Hi,
Hyphen usage has become less strict, but these two primary rules, as stated in the link below, are still considered best practices.
1. Generally, hyphenate two or more words when they come before a noun they modify and act as a single idea. This is called a compound adjective.
and
2. When a compound adjective follows a noun, a hyphen is usually not necessary.
https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp

#1 Because “much needed” comes before the noun it modifies, I suggest hyphenating it.
I ran across this CMOS hyphenation reference a while ago and have found it useful. It recommends hyphenating in this case:
https://ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/CMS_list.pdf


#2 Merriam-Webster has the primary listing of the noun phrase “near miss” with no hyphen but includes an alternate spelling with a hyphen, so either form is acceptable. I generally use the primary listing when possible:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/near%20miss

Thank you!