Real-world .... as an adjective?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Jon Jacob Jinglehymerschmidt wondered: <<Of course the phrase "real 
world" does not always have a hyphen when it's a noun phrase ("Unlike 
my online persona, I'm quite shy in the real world."), but I've noticed 
a lot of people use a hyphen with it's used as an adjective phrase.>>

When you combine two words to create a compound adjective, you should 
generally hyphenate the combination. The hyphen is crucial if the 
phrase could be misread; that's not the case here, since a "real-world 
book" is clearly more likely than a "real worldbook". But in other 
cases, the meaning isn't so clear without the hyphen.

Though you could certainly examine each case to determine whether a 
hyphen is essential, that's a lot of work for not much gain, and the 
results can look inconsistent to the non-hyphen-friendly reader. 
Hyphenating all compounds is a conservative approach that maximizes 
understanding and minimizes the risk of misreading. It always appears 
consistent, and is easier to do than deciding on an ad hoc basis each 
time.

<<Is the hyphen in real-world EVER appropriate?>>

It's never wrong; it may sometimes be unnecessary.

<<Can anyone confirm from some semi-authoritative source that the 
hyphen is EVER appropriate for this phrase when used as an adjective?>>

Any style guide (e.g., the Chicago Manual of Style) and many 
dictionaries--all of which might be considered more than "semi" 
authoritative--will confirm this.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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