77.3k views
5 votes
Add hyphens to compound adjectives where necessary. If no hyphens are needed, submit the text without making any changes.

-
Malavath Purna was only thirteen years old when she became the youngest woman to scale Mount Everest.

User Pinny
by
8.3k points

1 Answer

1 vote

Final answer:

The student's sentence does not require hyphens as 'thirteen-year-old' is correctly hyphenated as a compound modifier for 'woman'. However, in provided examples, some hyphens are needed to form correct compound modifiers, such as 'paint-splattered', 'ragged-old', and 'dog-eared'. It is crucial to hyphenate compound adjectives before a noun and generally unnecessary to do so when the modifiers come after the noun.

Step-by-step explanation:

The use of hyphens is vital when two or more words come together to act as a single modifier before a noun. In this context, the student's sentence regarding Malavath Purna does not require any additional hyphens, as the compound adjective 'thirteen-year-old' already acts as a modifier for the noun 'woman', which is a standard way of connecting the words in age descriptions.

However, for the provided review questions, hyphens would be necessary in some instances to join words serving as a compound modifier. Here is how the sentences should be.

Notice that when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are often not hyphenated, as in 'scared stiff' and 'empty plastic' in the examples above. Remember that hyphens with modifiers help to clarify their function in sentences, ensuring that your message is interpreted as intended.

User Tariksbl
by
8.6k points

Related questions

asked Aug 9, 2022 19.7k views
Odif Yltsaeb asked Aug 9, 2022
by Odif Yltsaeb
8.5k points
1 answer
7 votes
19.7k views
asked Dec 10, 2021 2.3k views
Stagg asked Dec 10, 2021
by Stagg
8.2k points
1 answer
3 votes
2.3k views