How to punctuate a phrase that has words between the possessor and possession?
Like this:
the security policy for Acme Group-owned and -operated computers...
Discussion:
- "Acme Group" is a proper noun and thus is not hyphenated if the original is not hyphenated.
- Note that "operated" gets a hyphen but the space after the "and" remains. This is because in the short list of two (owned and operated), the second "Acme Group" is implied.
I thought there was a reference to this guidance in Strunk & White's Elements of Style, but I guess not.