Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes
Q. Which phrase is hyphenated correctly: “a three-to-four-pound chicken” or “a three- to four-pound chicken”? I’m inclined to go with the former because the phrase refers to a chicken weighing between three and four pounds. However, copy editors and proofreaders tend to prefer the latter example.
A. I doubt that the editors here would prefer the latter example. Both are correct, but the second example requires the reader to supply the missing word (“three-pound-to-four-pound”), which seems unnecessarily complicated for describing the weight of a chicken.
