Where do the hyphens go? Do I need hyphens?

[Brigid Barry]

I have a sentence where fetuccini noodles that have been soaked in alfredo are mentioned:

cream sauce soaked

Word told me to hyphenate cream and sauce, and then also told me to hyphenate sauce and soaked: cream-sauce-soaked.

This seems like too many hyphens? Which ones do I need? Any?

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

I believe the hyphens suggested are...partially correct? I'm not sure about the one between cream and sauce, but I think it's right for sauce-soaked. However, it seems like it would flow smoother just to reword to "soaked in cream sauce". (and now I'm hungry.)

 

[gtanders]

I think Word is right. The complexity is coming from the fact that "cream sauce" is functioning as a compound noun within the standard "noun-participle" compound adjective.

E.g., "sauce-soaked" and "cream-soaked" both look fine because the noun isn't compound.

I also like @Maggie Maxwell 's edit. Then you get around it.

 

[Maryn]

I'm real solid on compound adjectives. (Speaks with somber voice of authority.)

There's no reason to hyphenate cream sauce. It makes perfectly good sense as two separate words, and the whole concept of cream sauce continues to stand alone when it becomes part of a compound adjective describing the fettuccine. The word cream modifies sauce, just like blue might modify shirt. (You might glimpse a blue shirt-wearing moderator if you squint hard.)

So I believe it should be cream sauce-soaked fettuccine noodles (although isn't that redundant, since fettuccine is a shape of noodle?)

Of course, if the compound adjective comes after the noun it describes, you hyphenate only if it's necessary for clarity. The fettuccine was cream sauce soaked.

Maryn, craving Italian now

 

[Brigid Barry]

I believe the exact line is "...every cream sauce soaked noodle..."

Thank you for the help! I will do sauce-soaked and leave cream out there hanging in the wind!

 

[Maryn]

It's going to curdle if you leave it out too long.

 

[Chime]

“…And he slurped down every long, stringy thick noodle, soaked in the creamy sauce that spittled out onto his beard, laying atop it still, as he licked the cheesey sauce off his lips and belched loudly…”

“Comfort Foods”

 

[Woollybear]

I have a sentence where fetuccini noodles that have been soaked in alfredo are mentioned:

cream sauce soaked

Word told me to hyphenate cream and sauce, and then also told me to hyphenate sauce and soaked: cream-sauce-soaked.

This seems like too many hyphens? Which ones do I need? Any?

I'd probably go with creamy sauce-soaked noodles. Or sauce-soaked noodles, creamy and rich. I like sauce-soaked because it is sibilant but agree cream-sauce-soaked noodles doesn't work and also agree that a cream sauce is very different from other sauces.

(Late to the party.)

 

[Fi Webster]

However, it seems like it would flow smoother just to reword to "soaked in cream sauce."

Heartily agreed! Why futz around with alternative hyphenated constructions when "soaked in cream sauce" would solve the problem in one swell foop?

 

[Brigid Barry]

Because I didn't want to revise and rearrange the entire sentence and I like the current rhythm of cream sauce-soaked, I just needed to know where the hyphens are.

The sentence is a character carefully arranging every cream sauce soaked noodle on a plate. Soaked in cream sauce doesn't work the same way.

Everyone can write their fettuccini alfredo scenes their own way!