"Well thought out" or "Well-thought-out"?

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Harley-Panda
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"Well thought out" or "Well-thought-out"?

Post by Harley-Panda »

Hey all, just wanted to ask for your opinion on something as I've been pulled up on it in my first review.

Is it "Well thought out" or "Well-thought-out"?

I used it without hyphens, and have been told that I should have hyphenated it all (therefore losing 10 points).
I looked it up online and found a quote from the Chicago Manual of Style (14th Ed.) saying that it is hyphenated unless it is a modification of the previous word.
Their example was "He paused for a bit, wanting to make sure his answer was well thought out."

The context in which I used this phrase is:
"Although the characters are well thought out..."
Am I wrong in thinking that "Well though out" is a modification of the word 'characters' (and therefore does not need to be hyphenated)?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum/wrong type of question to ask but it's left me feeling a bit deflated as I can't see that I'm wrong. I can't afford to pay for a proofreader to check every review so I may have to discontinue with the site if small things like this keep losing me points.

Any advice on how it's supposed to be written would be appreciated!

Thank you
Harley
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MrsCatInTheHat
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Post by MrsCatInTheHat »

I would have hyphenated that in the sentence you've given. From your post count, I can see that you are a new reviewer. With time, you will find it easier. What proofing tools are you using? I like using the one in Word and Grammarly. Using two helps me to find the majority of errors. I've found that with time, I'm not making them anymore.
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Post by Harley-Panda »

Hello, thank you. I feel a bit naive as I genuinely did not realise that the reviews have to be written to such a high standard - generally, the book reviews I've seen previously are written to an acceptable standard but do not need to be absolutely perfect. I always thought that it was done that way as the reviewers are just the 'average reader'.

I've just downloaded Grammarly (although the free version doesn't seem to detect 'well thought out' as an error, as I just copied my original sentence in and it found no errors). Hopefully it will help to pick up any errors in future - thank you for the suggestion as I didn't know such a thing existed!
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MrsCatInTheHat
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Post by MrsCatInTheHat »

Harley-Panda wrote: 12 Jun 2018, 03:50 Hello, thank you. I feel a bit naive as I genuinely did not realise that the reviews have to be written to such a high standard - generally, the book reviews I've seen previously are written to an acceptable standard but do not need to be absolutely perfect. I always thought that it was done that way as the reviewers are just the 'average reader'.

I've just downloaded Grammarly (although the free version doesn't seem to detect 'well thought out' as an error, as I just copied my original sentence in and it found no errors). Hopefully it will help to pick up any errors in future - thank you for the suggestion as I didn't know such a thing existed!
Authors pay to have their books reviewed so there has to be a high standard. That said, reviews are published as long as they have a minimum score. Most are not perfect. The free version only picks up certain types of errors.
Life without a good book is something MrsCatInTheHat cannot imagine.
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Harley-Panda
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Post by Harley-Panda »

CatInTheHat wrote: 12 Jun 2018, 06:12 Authors pay to have their books reviewed so there has to be a high standard. That said, reviews are published as long as they have a minimum score. Most are not perfect. The free version only picks up certain types of errors.
Yes, that's understandable. I think I'll have to stick to the free version unless I can start completing paid reviews to cover the cost. The errors that were picked up were quite minimal so I'll keep an eye out in future to try and make my reviews as perfect as they can be!

Thank you
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Post by Mallory Porshnev »

Merriam Webster and a quick Google search show this as hyphenated throughout, but it seems awkward to me to write it that way. Tricky hyphens. :)
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Post by Mary WhiteFace »

pricklypurple wrote: 26 Jun 2018, 09:02 Merriam Webster and a quick Google search show this as hyphenated throughout, but it seems awkward to me to write it that way. Tricky hyphens. :)
Tricky hyphens, slippery apostrophes and jumpy commas; why won't they all just behave and magically appear where we need them?
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Post by Yssimnar »

Harley-Panda wrote: 12 Jun 2018, 03:50 Hello, thank you. I feel a bit naive as I genuinely did not realise that the reviews have to be written to such a high standard - generally, the book reviews I've seen previously are written to an acceptable standard but do not need to be absolutely perfect. I always thought that it was done that way as the reviewers are just the 'average reader'.
When you read a review on this website, it might have errors because the reviews get posted without the corrections. You can read a review, but it won't tell you what score the reviewer received. This is my understanding anyway.
:wink:
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Post by AmySmiles »

Tiny_Turtle wrote: 22 Jul 2018, 12:37
pricklypurple wrote: 26 Jun 2018, 09:02 Merriam Webster and a quick Google search show this as hyphenated throughout, but it seems awkward to me to write it that way. Tricky hyphens. :)
Tricky hyphens, slippery apostrophes and jumpy commas; why won't they all just behave and magically appear where we need them?
:ecrivain:
LOL Oh my, this so fits the descriptions of most of the errors in my reviews. OH the commas why oh why!
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Post by Mary WhiteFace »

AmySmiles wrote: 08 Aug 2018, 07:09
Tiny_Turtle wrote: 22 Jul 2018, 12:37
pricklypurple wrote: 26 Jun 2018, 09:02 Merriam Webster and a quick Google search show this as hyphenated throughout, but it seems awkward to me to write it that way. Tricky hyphens. :)
Tricky hyphens, slippery apostrophes and jumpy commas; why won't they all just behave and magically appear where we need them?
:ecrivain:
LOL Oh my, this so fits the descriptions of most of the errors in my reviews. OH the commas why oh why!
Those commas...
Yeah, they get me too. 💕
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