I had a debate at work, over which thing would be considered the most correct way of writing the following (English):
“The company offers engineering, retail and architectural services”
or
“The company offers engineering-, retail- and architectural services”
I am from Denmark, and in Danish we use the second approach which connects
Answer
You can preposition almost any reasonable number of adjectives that are just regular adjectives. There is no need for hyphens:
“The company offers engineering, retail and architectural services”
However, hyphenation happens like this:
Some trees bear fruit and others bear nuts.
Becomes: fruit- and nut-bearing trees.
Very often, there are two or three nouns connected to the same verb.
This calls for hyphenation in the adjectival form to avoid repetition.
It is understood that what follows the first hyphen is implied. It is the same as the gerund in the second, but it is left out. When spoken (as in when someone reads a text, their intonation will carry this meaning.)
An example with three hyphens:
Ideas based on tradition, culture and history
tradition-, culture- and history-based ideas.
Or a more technical example:
a generator can be powered by wind, electricity or water
wind-, electricity and water-powered generators
To be noted: how it is the verb that structures the hyphenation.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Philip , Answer Author : Lambie