Re: Common grammar question

[Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>]

Phil provided a good stylistic observation. You would choose to
hyphenate based on whether the words form a compound adjective, or
not.

In Phil's original comparison:

"black-and-white stripes" vs. "stripes of black and white"

There would have to be a specific reason to use "black-and-white" as a
compound adjective in this case. In most cases, the image portrayed is
of an object with alternating (or other pattern) black and white
stripes.

However, in his second:

"black-and-white TV" vs. "TV is black and white"

the words "black-and-white" operate as a single adjective that
describes the type of TV. And even then, only after we were given a
choice of either a "black-and-white" TV or color.

-Tony
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. 
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try 
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat