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复合形容词

什么是复合形容词

复合形容词 (compound adjective) 是由两个或多个单词组合而成,共同修饰后面的名词。例如:

  • a well-known researcher
  • a high-quality dataset
  • a state-of-the-art model

这里的多个单词共同充当一个形容词,因此通常用连字符 - 连接。

为什么需要连字符

有连字符时:

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a small-scale experiment

表示「一个小规模实验」,small-scale 整体修饰 experiment

无连字符时:

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a small scale experiment

可能被理解为「一个小的刻度实验」,读者需要额外判断语义。

连字符的主要作用是消除歧义、提高可读性,表明这些词是一个整体。

常见类型

名词 + 过去分词

  • LLM-assisted migration
  • GPT-produced outputs
  • machine-generated code
  • user-defined function

副词 + 过去分词

  • well-known method
  • well-established theory
  • well-defined problem
  • much-needed reform
  • much-cited paper
  • best-known algorithm
  • little-known fact

-ly 结尾的副词例外,见 何时不要加连字符 一节。

数字 + 名词

  • a 10-layer network
  • a 5-stage pipeline
  • a 3-year project
  • a 100-page report

复合形容词中的名词一般用单数。

形容词 + 名词

  • high-quality data
  • low-level API
  • large-scale evaluation
  • real-time inference
  • short-term memory
  • open-source software

形容词 + 过去分词

  • fine-tuned model
  • ready-made solution
  • pre-trained encoder

名词 + 名词

  • client-server architecture
  • token-level prediction

应用场景

何时必须加连字符

多个词共同修饰后面的名词时,要加连字符:

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state-of-the-art model
high-quality dataset
large-scale experiment

何时不要加连字符

出现在名词后面时,不需要加连字符:

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The method is state of the art.
The researcher is well known.
The implementation is highly optimized.

-ly 结尾的副词通常不加连字符:

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highly optimized model          (不是 highly-optimized)
carefully designed experiment   (不是 carefully-designed)
fully automated pipeline        (不是 fully-automated)

简单判断方法

看到 A B C 结构时,如果 A B 一起修饰 C,则写为 A-B C

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high quality dataset  ->  high-quality dataset
large scale testing   ->  large-scale testing
MOLT generated SQL    ->  MOLT-generated SQL