Did you know that you can build your own adjectives in English? Take any phrase and connect its components with hyphens, put the thing before a noun, and there you are.
For instance, if you want to say that a building was designed after the style of the end of the century, you can write that it’s an end-of-the-century building. Astounding, isn’t it?
Actually, there are limits to this concept. To write about an end-of-the-period-when-there-were-two-German-states building would be a bit over the top. But you get the idea.
I’ve tried to put down some simple rules in German which you can download here. The hyphens are often omitted in modern business talk and advertising because they are seen as uncool. But that’s wrong. Keep the hyphens, they’re important. Or how would you tell the difference between a green-energy consultant and a green energy consultant without a hyphen?
