"Then" as an adjective

Is there a slash of not between the words "then girlfriend" and similarly "now wife"?

Greetings!

That's a very good question! I had to do some research to find an answer for you. I know that I tend to hyphenate when in doubt in a situation like this, but according to the one reference I found, one should not use a hyphen when using "then" as an adjective before a noun. As I was unable to find any authority stating that one should use a hyphen in that instance, I think it would be safe for you to leave it out.

Best of luck in your studies!

Thanks,

Sarah, EssayForum.com

Thanks so much for the help, Sarah!

The usage of hyphens has always been problematic for me. What about using "wise" as a suffix? There are a lot of words where you usually find the root word and -wise together, like clockwise, otherwise, moneywise, etc. But should is be used with a hyphen for less common words like appearance-wise? Or a space and no hyphen?

Greetings!

What an excellent question! Appearance wise...appearance-wise...appearancewise...among the three, I'd be inclined to go with the hyphenated version! You're right, though, that clockwise doesn't have one, nor otherwise...moneywise I'm less sure of. It's difficult to find answers to really specific questions like these, so all I can do is give you my best guess and tell you that if I were spelling it, I'd say "appearance-wise"--but if I had to justify it, all I could say is "it looks right that way!"

If I find out anything more on this topic, I'll let you know!

Thanks,

Sarah, EssayForum.com