hyphenation - "You should be well-organised" or "You should be well organised"?


Should I hyphenate the term 'well organised'? The context, if it matters, is the following sentence:



For this role you should be well organised and analytical with some research ability.



(I see there are other question here about hyphenation; do point me to one if this falls under a general rule, I just couldn't see it.)



Answer



Of course the context matters. I think it tells you whether a hyphen is needed or not.


Use a hyphen with compound adjectives (such as well-organized) when they precede a noun.



  • It was a well-organized meeting.


When the description follows the noun, no hyphen is necessary.



  • Her office is well organized.


In your example, I would not hyphenate the phrase.


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