I need confirmation on a piece of grammar. When referring to a person’s first time doing something, such as the sentence above, should ‘first time’ be hyphenated? Google kind of confirms it but not definitively.
Brian’s first-time buying experience at FOPP was unsatisfying.
Yes, because here the two words are functioning as a phrasal adjective. See also “first-time buyer” etc
As Moose said. There’s nothing wrong with sentence although it ‘feels’ awkward. A more ‘satisfying’ alternative would be ‘Brian’s experience as a first-time buyer at Fopp was unsatisfying.’ It could be rearranged a few other ways.
As an aside, the phrase ‘decision-making’ is always hyphenated (OED), even when not used adjectivally, e.g. ‘decision-making is tough” or ‘I am involved in decision-making’. Similar terms are not hyphenated in this context, such as ‘policy making’.
Another quirk – ‘socio-economic’ has a hyphen, ‘sociocultural’ does not (OED).
The hyphen presumably is introduced into socio-economic in order to avoid three consecutive vowels and the confusion that could engender.
Like in co-operative, which becomes too chickenified otherwise.
OED = cooperative. I make a living as an academic proofreader, so I’m often intrigued at these quirks. But I’m just the messenger, as it were. If there’s any doubt, I defer to the OED or – sometimes – to widespread common usage (if that has outstripped the OED), e.g. internet without a capital I.
Thank you for the confirmation.
Without the hyphen it would be slightly confusing. Could be read by thickos as his first experience of “time buying”. The hyphen clarifies the meaning and, as Ted Moult used to say on early editions of Countduwn, “There’s nowt better than a clarifying hyphen, Richard!”.
“Brian’s initial buying experience” seems to scan better.
I am going to FOPP for a day out next month.
I hope it is not as convoluted as all of this discussion.
Great post, spat my coffee and everything!
Is the word ‘time’ serving any function? Why not just say ‘first’?
Modern English, see also “going forward” meaning in future. Only inches away from “can I get”.
When I saw this in Updates I assumed it was from the Matt Bianco thread.
First Fopp shop flops for sad Bri.
For those about to Fopp, we salute you.
Lucky Brian. There is are now none Fopps in Brizzle.
Or Oxford
PSA for them as needs to know – I mention this only because I’ve just blown the mind of former Mirror hack who had no idea. Adverbial compounds (eg “insanely great”) don’t need a hyphen.
So: “The sloppily curated display of 12″ vinyl particularly annoyed Brian.”