“state-of-the art technology”

Hyphens

I saw this in a promotion.

Problem:
A hyphen is missing.

Explanation:
The promotion appeared in an FAQ for new lofts at the University of Houston.

Perhaps the promotion’s author should get my new hyphenation book!

The full sentence was “Included in your rent is the AT&T U-Verse 100 state-of-the art technology and it provides about 100 cable channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, BET, CNN, CSPAN and many more. ” — with a space between “state-of-the” and “art”.

Because these two parts together modify the noun “technology”, the entire sequence of words — “state” plus “of” plus “the” plus “art” — should be hyphenated.

It makes no sense to talk about “art technology” that is “state-of-the”.

Solution:
“state-of-the-art technology”