Question

Which sentence is correctly hyphenated? The beauty of Mount Fuji's near perfect cone shape has enchanted people for centuries. The beauty of Mount Fuji's near-perfect cone shape has enchanted people for centuries. The beauty of Mount Fuji's near perfect cone-shape has enchanted people for centuries.

Answer 1

The beauty of Mount Fuji's near-perfect cone shape has enchanted people for centuries.

Can can hyphenate near-perfect because near modifies the adjective perfect. In other words, the cone shape is almost perfect. However, please note, that near should only be hyphenated before an adjective and not a noun (near miss, near halt, or near disaster).

Answer 2

The sentence that is correctly hyphenated is "The beauty of Mount Fuji's near-perfect cone shape has enchanted people for centuries."

Near-perfect is correctly hyphenated because in this context it is a compound modifier, it modifies Mount Fuji's appearance.