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> Punctuation experts,
>
> Leaving aside whether there are better ways to say it, which is
> preferable:
>
> This book is a must have for anyone...
>
> This book is a must-have for anyone...
The latter. Rearrange a bit, supplying the implied object, to see why.
"This is a must-have book" is good. "This is a must have book" is not so good.
"Must-have" is a compound adjective modifying "book." The hyphen makes that clear. Without it, it's difficult to parse the sentence.
HTH!
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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