Real-time lessons in writing

Before writing a blog entry—or anything for that matter—verify that you haven’t already written about that same idea. I just wrote a detailed entry about em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens, only to discover that I had written a similar piece last September.

The Economist used a hyphen after an adverb ending in “ly”—did it err or am I missing something?

From Mr Bush’s first veto in the July 22, 2006 Economist (subscription required):

And a decision by Mr Bush in 2001 allows federally-funded scientists to experiment on the few dozen embryonic stem-cell “lines” that already existed then, which can be propagated in a laboratory [emphasis mine].

I don’t like pointing out grammatical mistakes unless I’m on the clock or they’re amusing (yes, I know that the capitalization of the tags on this site is inconsistent—it’s a software issue, however, and not a grammatical one). In fact, I try not to edit when I am reading for pleasure—it slows me down.

When The Economist breaks a convention, however, (and not just by using quirky British English) I run to my grammar books.

From the adverbs entry (p. 36) of The Economist Style Guide (remember when I wrote that this book was a good reference?):

Adverbs do not need to be linked to participles or adjectives by hyphens in simple constructions: The regiment was ill equipped for its task; The principle is well established; Though expensively educated, the journalist knew no grammar. But if the adverb is one of two words together being used adjectivally, a hyphen may be needed: The ill-equipped regiment was soon repulsed; All well-established principles should be periodically challenged. The hyphen is especially likely to be needed if the adverb is short and common, such as ill, little, much and well. Less-common adverbs, including all those that end -ly, are less likely to need hyphens: Never employ an expensively educated journalist [emphasis mine].

Did the impeccable Economist err or am I missing something?

And while I’m pitching other blogs…

The Private Sector Development Blog is a collaborative site by members of the World Bank Group. The site features the opinions of subject matter experts about many development-related issues.

And kudos to the World Bank for hosting a site where some of its employees can voice their own opinions (and, I assume, post on work time). Blogs like this one are a great way to create a dialogue and get input from the diverse groups working in a particular field.

Too often business websites are static, never giving readers a reason to return. Not so with a blog.

Now, if only they’d add a hyphen to that compound modifier in the title…