help with sentence

[Anonymous]

which would be the correct spelling?

At $10,000 the used car is definitely (a) overpriced, (b) over-priced, (c) over priced.

[Francois]

(a) seems fine to me.

FRC

[Casiopea]

which would be the correct spelling?

At $10,000 the used car is definitely (a) overpriced, (b) over-priced, (c) over priced.

Compounds come in three forms: 1. Open Compounds (over priced), 2. Hyphenated Compounds (over-priced), and 3. Solid Compounds (overpriced).

1. Use an Open Compound when the compound functions as a predicate adjective (i.e., when it follows a linking verb e.g., is, am, are, was, were) and when the second word in the compound is a past participle.

EX: The book is over priced.

=>over priced is a compound and the second word in the compound priced is a past participle, so a hyphen is not required.

2. Use a Hyphenated Compound when the compound functions as a modifier, like this,

EX: This is an over-priced book.

=>over-priced functions as an adjective. It modifies 'book'.

Source

3. Some writers will use the adjective overpriced, a Solid Compound, because it looks just like the verb overpriced, to overprice, overpricing.

In short, you need not use a hyphen with over priced. The reason being, its grammatical order is natural: it doesn't cause ambiguity.

EX: over (adverb) + priced (adjective). In English, adverb + adjective is the natural order. :wink:


All the best, :D

[Francois]

The non-scientific Google finds 300K hits for overpriced and 140K for both "over priced" and "over-priced" together. In fact, Google suggests the former spelling when we search for "over priced"! ;)

FRC

[Casiopea]

The non-scientific Google finds 300K hits for overpriced and 140K for both "over priced" and "over-priced" together. In fact, Google suggests the former spelling when we search for "over priced"! ;)

FRC

No doubt due to the 300K hits. :wink: :wink: That's how it calculates.

[Francois]

Yeah ;)
I didn't know "over priced" was correct, in fact.

FRC

[Casiopea]

Yeah ;)
I didn't know "over priced" was correct, in fact.

FRC

Given Google, who would?

[Francois]

It looks really bad to me. I'm not a big fan of the hyphenated version either, but I can tell it is correct.
My point is, why not use a simple, single word to express that idea? English is a very dynamic language, and new words or verbs can be coined if they fill a gap. I can tell 'overpriced' comes from 'over' and 'priced', so I don't see the value of the hyphen (let alone the space) there if I can do away with it.
What do you mean, nobody cares? ;)

FRC

[Casiopea]

I can tell 'overpriced' comes from 'over' and 'priced', so I don't see the value of the hyphen (let alone the space) there if I can do away with it.
What do you mean, nobody cares? ;)

FRC

Well, the way it ivolves is as follows: over priced => over-priced => overpriced. The hyphen expresses close connection.

Check out this
Source.