What’s the correct hyphenation in “trying to be a decision maker”?
Which of these three ways of writing it is right:
- decision maker (a space separates the two pieces)
- decision-maker (a hyphen separates the two pieces)
- decisionmaker (nothing separates the two pieces)
I’ve looked online and in dictionaries, grammar books, source documents, and multiple documents within my organization, but I still cannot find an answer.
Use whatever style guide is appropriate for your organization or audience.
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If there is no appropriate style guide, then here is a general guideline (and it is only a general guideline):
Use a hyphen if the term is used as an adjective: XYZ is a decision-maker tool.
Do not use a hyphen if the term is used as a noun phrase: She is a decision maker.
Beyond that, @FumbleFingers's comment applies: it's pretty much up to you.