I know what you’re thinking: that I’m about to take these poor folks to the woodshed for hyphenating a compound formed by an adverb ending in ly plus a participle (“publicly-traded”).
But you couldn’t be more wrong.
No, I’m taking them to the woodshed for hyphenating a compound formed by an adverb ending in ly plus a participle (“publicly-traded”) while ON THE SAME FRICKIN’ BILLBOARD not hyphenating another compound formed by an adverb ending in ly plus a participle (“locally owned”).
“Consistency,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Perhaps. But it ought to be the first refuge of the proofreader.
by Susanna