Do I keep myself "up-to-date" or "up to date" on something? [duplicate]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, as quoted by the site below, you hyphenate if the compound adjective is before the noun and don't hyphenate if it is after the noun.

With compound adjectives formed from the adverb well and a participle (e.g., well-known), or from a phrase (e.g., up-to-date), you should use a hyphen (or hyphens) when the compound comes before the noun:

well-known brands of coffee;
an up-to-date account,

but not when the compound comes after the noun:

His music was also well known in England.
Their figures are up to date.

From Oxford Dictionaries via Adverbs and Hyphens by Maeve Maddox for Daily Writing Tips.

In this case the noun is myself and before the adjective, so no hyphen.


In other styles, this may not necessarily hold true. For instance, in APA style, hyphens are discouraged unless they add clarity.


The reference to coming before or after the noun is correct-ish, but for the wrong reason.

If the expression is being used as an adjective then hyphenation may be appropriate; if it's used as a predicate, then likely not.

This gives us "a well-known man" and an "up-to-date computer", as opposed to "a man who is well known" and "a computer which is up to date".

The location of the expression within the sentence is a consequence of normal word order in English, rather than of itself being the driver for the use of hyphens.

Always subject to the overriding rule in modern English that you can break a rule if it doesn't look right to you otherwise.