'problem solving' or 'problem-solving'
Jim Kist
O.K. folks, which is it? I am using it on my resume in this fashion:
'Developed problem solving skills by...'
or, should it be:
'Developed problem-solving skills by...' ?
Thanks in advance.
Fred Lukoff
>O.K. folks, which is it? I am using it on my resume in this fashion:
> 'Developed problem solving skills by...'
This looks like a truncated version of "I developed a problem solving
skills by...."
>or, should it be:
> 'Developed problem-solving skills by...' ?
This is the preferred form I think.
- Ben
Roger Lustig
I like to hyphenate adjectival phrases, because I find them easier to
read that way. But not everyone does it that way.
The most important thing, imho, is to choose a style and be consistent
about it.
Roger
whee...@logica.co.uk
> In article <CCpJz...@acsu.buffalo.edu> ki...@acsu.buffalo.edu (Jim Kist) writes:
>
>>O.K. folks, which is it? I am using it on my resume in this fashion:
>> 'Developed problem solving skills by...'
>
>>or, should it be:
>> 'Developed problem-solving skills by...' ?
>
> I like to hyphenate adjectival phrases, because I find them easier to
> read that way. But not everyone does it that way.
I do it that way too. I find that the hyphenation may serve to disambiguate
the sentence as it is read. I know this example is somewhat extreme, but what
you wrote could (just) be interpreted as:
"I'm not surprised you developed a problem if you were trying to solve skills!"
(It's stupid and extreme but there are cases in which the hyphen absolutely
clarifies what you mean to write. Doubtless, in speech, one's inflection
serves to remove any ambiguity.)
The only 'problem' associated with hyphenation is that you can end up with
triple-barrelled (and more) adjectival phrases. Roger wrote (in an earlier
post) "well-thought-out stuff". I'd have written exactly the same, but longer
constructs tend to look awkward (in my view). I suppose it's a matter of
taste (and consistency; see below).
> The most important thing, imho, is to choose a style and be consistent
> about it.
Yes, of course, but most people seek a little guidance in their choice; more
than that, they need a good explanation. Hence the reason for the original
post.
(I chose illiteracy as my style, but I am inconsistent in that occasionally I
get a word write.)
> Roger
TTFN - Steve
Lauren Crawford Holmes
In a previous article, ro...@faust.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig) says:
>The most important thing, imho, is to choose a style and be consistent
>about it.
Consistent?? Roger, has someone invaded your body and taken over your
terminal while I've been gone? Aren't you the fellow who has argued so
long for so hard that all these niggly little language rules--developed for
the sake of clarity and, heavens, consistency--should be thrown to the
wind? Ah, wait--you're saying that we need only be consistent within the
body of our own writing, not within any larger context.
But why even be consistent within our own writing? Why not just let fly,
be creative, hyphenate today and not tomorrow?
Ah, it's good to be back.
--
Lauren C Holmes, dt...@cleveland.freenet.edu
"Is it simply that talk doesn't have to be metered and rhymed?
Or is gab distracting from something worse?"
--Galway Kinnell, "For Robert Frost"
Brooke Biggs
wrote:
Simple matter of a compound modifier. The wrods "problem" and "solving"
together modify "skills". In these cases, always hyphenate when the
modifier preceeds the noun.
Examples: problem-solving skills, skills at problem solving.
If you don't hyphenate in that first case, it sounds like you have problems
when you attempt to solve skills.
ling...@matai.vuw.ac.nz
[_problem solving_ or _problem-solving_]
It doesn't matter which one you use. In texts from the Wellington Corpus of NZ
English (even from _Management_ magazine) authors alternate between the two!
Though I've yet to see anyone write _problemsolving_.
Robert.Sigley
Karl Hahn
On a related usage: In math and physics courses, I have heard and read of
a problem either being solvable or soluable. Which is the preferred usage?
--
| (V) | "Tiger gotta hunt. Bird gotta fly.
| (^ (`> | Man gotta sit and wonder why, why, why.
| ((\\__/ ) | Tiger gotta sleep. Bird gotta land.
| (\\< ) der Nethahn | Man gotta tell himself he understand."
| \< ) |
| ( / | Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
| | |
| ^ |
Steve Hayes
>[_problem solving_ or _problem-solving_]
>
>It doesn't matter which one you use. In texts from the Wellington Corpus of NZ
>English (even from _Management_ magazine) authors alternate between the two!
>
>Though I've yet to see anyone write _problemsolving_.
Actually it does matter. It is hyphenated if it is used adjectivally, and
written as two words if used as a noun.
"In the twentieth century..."
but
"Twentieth-century poets ..."
============================================================
Steve Hayes, Department of Missiology & Editorial Department
Univ. of South Africa, P.O. Box 392, Pretoria, 0001 South Africa
Internet: haye...@risc1.unisa.ac.za Fidonet: 5:7106/20.1
steve...@p1.f20.n7106.z5.fidonet.org
FAQ: Missiology is the study of Christian mission and is part of
the Faculty of Theology at Unisa
Pete Moore
>In article <1993Sep5...@matai.vuw.ac.nz> ling...@matai.vuw.ac.nz writes:
>On a related usage: In math and physics courses, I have heard and read of
>a problem either being solvable or soluable. Which is the preferred usage?
Older textbooks (especially British ones, in my experience) tend to use
`soluble' rather than `solvable'. I suspect that `solvable' is a
relatively recent addition to the language.
`Soluble' does have two meanings, (1) able to be dissolved, and (2) able to
be solved. It isn't hard to imagine how the two could become confused,
especially in scientific literature. For this reason, I use (1) only, and
use `solvable' for `able to be solved'.
--
+------------------- pe...@bignode.equinox.gen.nz -------------------+
| The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things |
| that lifts human life above the level of farce, and gives it some |
| of the grace of tragedy - Steven Weinberg |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Peter Moylan
>On a related usage: In math and physics courses, I have heard and read of
>a problem either being solvable or soluable. Which is the preferred usage?
In my experience, the most common usage in the scientific/mathematical
world is:
Solvable: capable of being solved (e.g. a problem in mathematics)
Soluble: capaple of being dissolved (here, the subject is
probably physics or chemistry).
On the other hand, "insoluble" tends to be used as the antonym
in both cases. The alternative "unsolvable" is less popular.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@tesla.newcastle.edu.au