Hyphenation woes

March 29, 2019 8:02 AM

In this sentence: "...providing audiences with the sharpest, brightest, clearest and most-vivid digital images..." is the hyphenation in "most-vivid" appropriate/necessary?

I've Googled and read a bunch of use rules but I still can't wrap my head around it. Is this truly a case of a compound adjective? It feels wrong, but that doesn't mean it is wrong.

posted by cooker girl to Writing & Language (14 answers total)

No.
posted by phunniemee at 8:02 AM on March 29, 2019 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Not appropriate or necessary. It does make a weird sentence, with or without the hyphen, because of all the "-est" adjective intensifiers followed by a different intensifier. Maybe that's why people want to add a hyphen, so that it seems like a string of single words even though it's not. Also redundant unless in your world "vivid" means something particular that is different from sharp, bright and clear.
posted by sheldman at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

No.
posted by unicorn chaser at 8:10 AM on March 29, 2019

Could be awkward or acceptable depending on what the writer is trying to emphasize, who their audience is, and what version of English they're using. Almost certainly not necessary.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:12 AM on March 29, 2019

Response by poster: Writer trying to emphasize: how awesome the digital images are, I guess?
Audience: non-profit impact report for a specific donor.
Version of English: USA English
posted by cooker girl at 8:15 AM on March 29, 2019

Is rewriting it not an option? "...providing audiences with the most vivid images that are sharper, brighter and clearer than [ever before]..."
posted by london explorer girl at 8:19 AM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]

IMO, it's wrong to hyphenate. Most vivid is the superlative for vivid.
posted by Linnee at 8:20 AM on March 29, 2019

This strikes me as incorrect, as a reader. The "most-" construction with a hyphen is used with past participles to create a new adjective (i.e. most-used, most-downloaded, most-appreciated), but I can't think of any existing adjectives it feels correct with. However, I disagree with an earlier response that the the sentence itself is weird-- it feels fine without the hyphen, to me!
posted by dusty potato at 8:44 AM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Agreeing that you don’t need that hyphen. Here’s The Chicago Manual of Style on compounds that combine an adverb not ending in -ly and a participle or adjective: “compounds with more, most, less, least, and very usually open [unhyphenated] unless ambiguity threatens.”

The example they give where a hyphen would clear up ambiguity involves a plural: “the most skilled workers” [i.e., the most in number] vs. “the most-skilled workers” [i.e., the workers with the most skill]. But in other cases, keep it unhyphenated, even when appearing before the modified noun. Your instance also involves a plural but I don't think that any reader would think you meant "the sharpest, brightest, clearest, and most numerous vivid images." Because "most vivid" is at the end of a string of superlatives its meaning is evident.
posted by miles per flower at 8:44 AM on March 29, 2019 [8 favorites]

My understanding of compound adjectives is that they have to be able to stand on their own, for instance, instead of "red-leather jacket," you could just say "red jacket," or "leather jacket," but if you use them both you need a hyphen. If they come after they noun the modify, skip the hyphen. "Her jacket, red leather, was well broken in..."
posted by kate4914 at 10:33 AM on March 29, 2019

Yes, as miles per flower said, the point is to avoid ambiguity, but I'd add that it can also avoid making someone have think twice before figuring out the meaning.

Could someone read "...the sharpest, brightest, clearest and most vivid digital images..." to mean "our vivid digital images have the following attributes: they are the sharpest, brightest, and clearest, and we have the most of them"? No. I agree that no one would misunderstand the meaning.

It's less of a slam dunk for ease of reading; I could certainly see someone initially seeing "sharpest, brightest, clearest and most" as a series, and taking a split second to realize that most modified vivid. So while I'd drop the hyphen, I can understand someone making a considered decision to include it.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:59 AM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Seems acrobatic. How does 'most-vivid' say something that is not said by 'vividest?'
posted by Glomar response at 11:59 AM on March 29, 2019

Best answer: "Most" is an adverb. "Vivid" is an adjective. You wouldn't write "most-vivid digital images" any more than you would write "really-pretty digital images."
posted by mono blanco at 1:09 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

As a counterpoint, there are house styles in which more/most modifying a following adjective are always hyphenated to avoid ambiguity; I believe the Atlantic uses this style. It's silly, because you could just use the hyphen in the rare cases where there actually is a risk of ambiguity, but it's a thing.
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 1:20 PM on March 29, 2019