Is a badly-written book a book [which has been] badly written?

Question

This question is prompted by the earlier question Should I use a hyphen after -ly when modifying a verb in the past participle verb? Please don't close this as a dup unless there's a later answer there that answers my specific question (or another relevant question that I haven't been able to find).

My hypothesis is that adjectival "-ly adverb + past participle" combinations are more likely to include a hyphen when they occur before the relevant noun. But my Google-fu is inadequate to the task of establishing whether this is true or not, and my knowledge of formal grammar certainly isn't good enough to know of any "rules" that might be involved here.

Note the [optional] element in the example usage forming the question title. I don't see why...

Coffee boiled is coffee spoiled.

...should be grammatically any different to...

Coffee boiled is coffee which is spoiled.

...but I'm prepared to be disabused on that point.

Is the hyphen in my question title any more justified in the first badly written than the second?

EDIT: In case I haven't made myself clear, I'm not asking for answers telling me that the hyphen is never justified. Unless they're accompanied by evidence (not opinion) showing that in fact my hypothesis is untrue anyway, so it's meaningless to ask why the phenomenon occurs.

Oldcat · Answer

In the first case, you need the hyphen to assure that badly modifies written into one adjective, describing book.  Otherwise it could be a badly book, which makes no sense.

rhetorician · Answer

For what it's worth, I think that a

Badly-written book

is the same as a

Book badly written

In the right sentence, the latter could exude a whiff of snootiness, superiority, and condescension, however.

Question: What did you think of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea"?

And

Answer: Frankly, I think it was a book badly written.

Only the most obtuse person reading either sentence would think the book was written in cursive, and bad cursive at that! Then again, you never know. Some people are as obtuse as a goose (or as dense as a fence, or inane as a crane, or silly as a wet Willie--well, you get the idea).

hrothgarrrr · Answer

There is no need to have a hyphen in the phrase "badly written book" since there is no ambiguity: as an adverb, "badly" modifies the adjective "written".

Molly · Answer

Presumably it's just out of habit, no? Strings of words being used together to modify a noun are usually hyphenated, and adjectives usually precede nouns in English, therefore people sometimes add unnecessary hyphens in that place for phrases like "badly-written book"?

Answered by Molly on April 9, 2021

Is a badly-written book a book [which has been] badly written?

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