Some grammar help please?

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

Should the phrase below have hyphens? If yes or no, could you please explain why in idiot speak?

"In this book,Tara factors in the realities of life as a nurse with practical and easy-to-implement advice."

Wobbly, I think there are rules for how you separate subordinate clauses but some people like me have a personal style that overuses one or the other. There are very clear rules on the use of semi-colons.

OP, your question about open compounds - compounds without the hyphen - is partially answered in my last link above (excerpt below). As to why... just because, I think.

'There are three forms of compound words:
the closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike, crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook;
the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old, mass-produced;
and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.'

'Very' and words that end in '-ly' are never hyphenated.

Your explanation above is great wobbly. I think most of me, me definitely included, write informally in a way that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Your subordinate clauses containing question marks and brackets are poor grammar, but honestly why cares when writing on an Internet forum on a Sunday morning? It's good to be clear on the rules so you can use them in formal writing, though. I edited a school website for my boss and the member of staff who had written it believed that commas and semi-colons were interchangeable. It gave an appalling impression of the school.

most of us, me included

who cares. note to self, don't critique grammar whilst drunk/hungover

"Compound adjective just describes more than one word linked together with hyphens"

To be picky, a compound adjective is more than one word linked together to describe a noun. It can be confusing because some things are commonly linked together in some circumstances but not in others. E.g. "In the nineteenth century it was common to..." and "nineteenth-century doctors".

Haha Million, you're right. I'm a terrible, rambling writer!

But I used to be an editor and am now and English teacher - so I only need to be able to criticise and correct the writing of others

Plus I have averaged 4 hours' sleep each night this week

Gabilan, the rules are detailed above, I was just offering a quick definition because I thought OP had said she didn't understand the term.

Wobbly, no criticism intended, honest! I certainly don't write correctly unless I'm making an effort, and I rarely make an effort when tired/hungover/on forums fora. I'm a far better editor than writer myself!

I wasn't offended

I need to work on y writing style; it doesn't help when I'm trying to model how to write succinctly and analytically to my year 13s!

I think knowing your foibles is key. When not writing on my phone tired and hungover I review what I've written, specifically looking for complicated subordinate clauses. Most are much better divided into separate sentences.

hyphens are more 'separating' than commas.

I'd be happy for anyone to correct me on any of this

You are confusing hyphens with dashes. They are different punctuation marks.

Words that are put together to create adjectives need to be hyphenated.

some things are commonly linked together in some circumstances but not in others. E.g. "In the nineteenth century it was common to..." and "nineteenth-century doctors"

No - because "nineteenth-century" in the second example is being used as an adjective to describe the doctors.

He was a white-coat-wearing, stethoscope-brandishing, nineteenth-century doctor.

In your first example, OP, you use "easy-to-implement advice". This is correct as it is used as an adjective.

His advice was easy to implement.
It was easy-to-implement advice.

Overtime is not hyphenated if used as a noun "She did three hours of overtime" but the words are separate in your example "the project came in over time and over budget"

Compound adjectives require hyphens in front of nouns, except if the compound contains an -ly adverb in which case they're not hyphenated in front of the noun. Adverb + adjective combos after the noun don't take a hyphen unless the pairing has become a standard combination.

An easy-to-implement solution
A solution that is easy to implement
An overly tired child
A child that is overly tired
A fast-flowing river
The river is fast flowing (I might be tempted to hyphenate here).

words that end in '-ly' are never hyphenated.

Yes they can be, as quite a few adjectives end in -ly. A friendly-sounding vicar, for instance.

Not according to my grammar reference, but actually I'm not now sure in my hungover state whether the source is correct: 'Rule 3. An often overlooked rule for hyphens: The adverb very and adverbs ending in -ly are not hyphenated.

Incorrect: the very-elegant watch

Incorrect: the finely-tuned watch

This rule applies only to adverbs. The following two sentences are correct because the -ly words are adjectives rather than adverbs:

Correct: the friendly-looking dog

Correct: a family-owned cafe'
m.grammarbook.com/punctuation-rules/hyphens.aspx

Disclaimer: I only check these rules to quote for other people. Usually I just eyeball it and get it right 99% of the time.

I hadn't expressed it well though - adverbs should not be hyphenated, adjectives should. Apparently.

This is interesting!

I also wonder if sometimes things change over time? Frustratingly I can't think of any examples at the moment (if I come across any, I'll come back) but sometimes when you read older adverts or texts (say, 1980s) it seems that phrases are more likely to be hyphenated there whereas today we would run them into one word or write them as two separate words.

Actually I can think of two examples - breastfeeding vs breast-feeding and e-mail vs email.

Although neither of those are compound adjectives. they are adjective + noun combinations.

I once had a long and fruitless argument with dd's school because they included the word 'cooperation' in one of dd's spelling tests.

Yes to the hyphens

It was a bit long, wasn't it

I meant 'fine tooth comb' as an example to replace the 'big head teacher' example wobbly (I wasn't very clear.)

On the recent 'another think coming/ another thing coming thread', 'I'm going to search with a tooth-comb' was offered as an example of a saying that had become corrupted over time. Hyphenating as 'fine-tooth comb' clarifies that example and would hopefully help avoid the situation where people imagine there is an article called a 'tooth-comb'. It doesn't work for spoken language, of course

I also wonder if sometimes things change over time? Frustratingly I can't think of any examples at the moment (if I come across any, I'll come back) but sometimes when you read older adverts or texts (say, 1980s) it seems that phrases are more likely to be hyphenated there whereas today we would run them into one word or write them as two separate words

I have seen 'Week-end', 'Teen-ager' and even 'To-day' ( ) hyphenated in historical publications.

"No - because "nineteenth-century" in the second example is being used as an adjective to describe the doctors. "

That's what I said Iguana and I'm not sure where you're coming from. IME some people, even those studying for PG degrees in humanities subjects, aren't actually very good at analysing grammar e.g. I was explaining to one MA student the difference between passive and active verbs and realised I had to take a step back and explain what a verb was because she didn't know. In those circumstances "nineteenth century" as a noun and "nineteenth-century" as an adjective can look confusing, if you don't even know the difference between an adjective and a noun. (And a surprising number of people don't).

In essence it comes down to what is generally accepted and house styles do vary but this is useful.