A language question for those of you whose native language is English

I conclude the following from this discussion so far:
  • The way I wrote these listings is grammatically correct.
  • In the example I used in the first post, repeating the word "critical" would add clarity (however, it is crystal clear from the context that we talk about critical pressure, a very familiar term for engineers in the oil and gas industry, our customers)
If anyone feels like hijacking this thread and making it into a general discussion about the English language, feel free to do so :)
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
I conclude the following from this discussion so far:
  • The way I wrote these listings is grammatically correct.
  • In the example I used in the first post, repeating the word "critical" would add clarity (however, it is crystal clear from the context that we talk about critical pressure, a very familiar term for engineers in the oil and gas industry, our customers)
If anyone feels like hijacking this thread and making it into a general discussion about the English language, feel free to do so :)
Click to expand...


I think that is dead on and whatever you do, do not add the dash :)
 
Bit late, but I agree with the dash/hyphen being illogical. I don't think I've ever seen it used in such a fashion, in fact when I first read your sentence I read it as "Critical temperature and negative pressure", which made me go back and read the post again more thoroughly because I thought it was odd to use the symbol instead of the word....
 
Damn, I'm really disappointed I missed this!
FWIW Ariana was right in the very first post.
 
More fun with hyphens: "race- or gender-based discrimination" vs. "race-based or gender-based discrimination"?
 
Missed the conversation. My native language is not English and to be honest, the dash confuses me even more so than the regular writing. Might be because we don't use the dashes in the same context in Turkish.

Cornfed Hick said:
More fun with hyphens: "race- or gender-based discrimination" vs. "race-based or gender-based discrimination"?
Click to expand...

I'd probably prefer the first one. Lesser the words, the better it is if the meaning can be given in any case in an informative sense.
 
I'd never use the phase "race-or-gender-based discrimination" in the first place because it's too cumbersome. But technically speaking, dashes or hyphens can't be left hanging like laundry blown by the wind. They need to be neatly placed between words, phrases or clauses. So it either has to be "race-based or gender-based", or the entire thing should be placed in a compound modifier.
 
Alright. I agree. I'd still change the phrase, so I don't have to use this odd-sock hyphen. I can't stand asymmetry. <_<
 
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