Any hyphen experts here?

[Hyacinth]

If so, please use your powers to punctuate this sentence:

This is the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States.

I know a hyphen belongs between revenue and generating.

And "highest" modifies "revenue-generating," so does belong after highest, too?

A. This is the 14th highest revenue-generating company in the United States.

OR

B. This is the 14th highest-revenue-generating company in the United States.

OR

C. Something else entirely.

 

[Storygirl]

A is correct.

[Familia]

Yes, A is correct.  The words ‘revenue-generating’ are functioning together as an adjective.  ‘Highest’ is an adverb modifying ‘revenue-generating’.

Purdue Owl or Grammarly sites are my go-to for quick grammar helps.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/hyphen/

Edited May 1, 2020 by Familia
Adding link

[edelweiss]

I agree with A.

[Tanaqui]

Though I agree with everybody here, I will point out that the general trend in English is to reduce hyphens. When in doubt, leave it out.

[Lori D.]

Actually, wouldn't the answer be C because you have TWO 2-word modifiers in the sentence? Revenue-generating work together to modify company, while 14th-highest work together to modify revenue-generating. I was looking at the Chicago style rule chart for hyphenation -- scroll down to the "number, ordinal, + superlative" rule.

This is the 14th-highest revenue-generating company in the United States.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Lori D.

[Laura Corin]

58 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Actually, wouldn't the answer be C because you have TWO 2-word modifiers in the sentence? Revenue-generating work together to modify company, while 14th-highest work together to modify revenue-generating. I was looking at the Chicago style rule chart for hyphenation -- scroll down to the "number, ordinal, + superlative" rule.

This is the 14th-highest revenue-generating company in the United States.

That was my feeling, but I didn't dare express it.

[Farrar]

I had the same thought as Lori... but I think maybe there's a rule that you don't do it for numbers like that? I'm genuinely unsure.

But I'll also second Tanaqui. The trend is to leave hyphens out right now and a lot of styles are just dropping them except in certain situations.

[Farrar]

Okay, I looked up the numbers question. You do hyphenate with ordinal numbers, so I think Lori's version is correct.

[Hyacinth]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing my uncertainty. 
 

So revenue-generating is definitely hyphenated. We all agree there. 
 

No one seems to think there should be a hyphen between highest and revenue. Would there be in this sentence: 

That was the longest running sitcom on NBC.

I think it should be longest-running sitcom (unless it was a sitcom about running). 
But using that logic, my original sentence would read:

This the 14th highest-revenue-generating company in the United States.

And that just seems like too many hyphens. Throw in the one between 14th and highest that y’all are debating and we’ve got hyphen mayhem. Or do we? 

[Laura Corin]

22 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

Thanks, everyone, for sharing my uncertainty. 
 

So revenue-generating is definitely hyphenated. We all agree there. 
 

No one seems to think there should be a hyphen between highest and revenue. Would there be in this sentence: 

That was the longest running sitcom on NBC.

I think it should be longest-running sitcom (unless it was a sitcom about running). 
But using that logic, my original sentence would read:

This the 14th highest-revenue-generating company in the United States.

And that just seems like too many hyphens. Throw in the one between 14th and highest that y’all are debating and we’ve got hyphen mayhem. Or do we? 

It's not the highest, it's the 14th highest. If you do '14th highest-revenue-generating' it sounds like there's an annual prize for revenue and this is the 14th year.

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

Thanks, everyone, for sharing my uncertainty. 
 

So revenue-generating is definitely hyphenated. We all agree there. 
 

No one seems to think there should be a hyphen between highest and revenue. Would there be in this sentence: 

That was the longest running sitcom on NBC.

I think it should be longest-running sitcom (unless it was a sitcom about running). 
But using that logic, my original sentence would read:

This the 14th highest-revenue-generating company in the United States.

And that just seems like too many hyphens. Throw in the one between 14th and highest that y’all are debating and we’ve got hyphen mayhem. Or do we? 

Okay, this is just my "gut level" explanation, lol -- not official 😉 .

You combine with a hyphen the 2 words that are working together and that can't work solo to modify the same thing -- in essence they are making one new word that can do that job of modifying. Because they are still 2 separate words, you tie them together with a hyphen. Together, "revenue" + "generating" are a single unit used to modify the noun "company". So revenue-generating is what I'll call a conjoined adjective for this sentence. In this case, the words "revenue" and "generating" can't do that job of acting as adjectives independently, like when you have a series of adjectives all modifying the same noun.

Normally when you have more than one adjective modifying a noun, you separate them with commas: "This is the biggest, wealthiest, oldest company in the United States." However, a string of adjectives is NOT what we have in this sentence: "This is the fourteenth-highest revenue-generating company in the United States".

We have 2 words that are not usually adjectives that are together acting as one adjective to modify the noun -- so that requires that conjoining those two words with a hyphen. When we label the parts of speech in the original sentence, revenue (a noun) + generating (a participle) working to modify revenue) are conjoined to make a 2-word/1-unit adjective to modify company (a noun). Adjectives modify nouns. By conjoining a noun (revenue) and a participle (generating) we have created an adjective to modify "company".

The word highest is NOT part of the "conjoined twin" adjective because it is NOT working as an adjective to modify "company". The word "highest" is doing a different job of modifying -- it is acting as an adverb to modify the conjoined adjective "revenue-generating". Adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs. Because highest is doing the work of an adverb, it is not hyphenated because it is not part of the conjoined adjective "revenue-generating" that is doing the work of an adjective.


Also, the concept of clarity comes into play in using hyphens. A hyphen is meant to make things more clear by showing the direct connections. In the originally sentence, the things that are most closely connected are fourteenth-highest, and revenue-generating. Adding more hyphens between all 4 words is less clear than just 2 hyphens between those 2-word combos. Or even just 1 hyphen between revenue-generating. Note that I keep spelling out fourteenth -- I think it makes more visual sense to do so, even though the rule is use digits for numbers above 10 or 12 (depending which format you're using), because "14th" as digits is most frequently associated with a date. And since in this sentence there is no date, and I wouldn't want anyone to think in that direction, I personally would spell it out. 

For "longest-running" in your example of "the longest running show on NBC"  --> Yes, I see what you are saying. But from your original sentence, IMO, "14th" trumps all and has the closer association with "highest" than "highest" has with "revenue-generating" for making sense while reading it. So if you're going to add another hyphen, it is LESS clear (IMO) if you say "14th highest-revenue-generating company" and MORE clear to say "14th-highest revenue-generating company" -- or "14th highest revenue-generating company".

Now my brain hurts.... 😄

Edited May 1, 2020 by Lori D.

[Junie]

7 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

If so, please use your powers to punctuate this sentence:

This is the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States.

 

I know a hyphen belongs between revenue and generating.

 

And "highest" modifies "revenue-generating," so does belong after highest, too?

A. This is the 14th highest revenue-generating company in the United States.

OR

B. This is the 14th highest-revenue-generating company in the United States.

OR

C. Something else entirely.

 

I tend to over-hyphenate (she said with a hypen 😉 ), but it seems that you don't really need one after 14th.

I would work around it.

This company generates the 14th highest revenue in the United States.