{"id":424,"date":"2008-11-21T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2008-11-21T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/separate-business-at-arms-length-from\/"},"modified":"2011-05-31T19:40:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T01:40:33","slug":"separate-business-at-arms-length-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2008\/11\/separate-business-at-arms-length-from\/","title":{"rendered":"“… separate business at arm’s-length from …”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw this yesterday in a company’s announcement about buying another company.<\/p>\n

Problem:<\/strong>
\nThe hyphen does not belong in this phrase.<\/p>\n

Explanation:<\/strong>
\nOne company was announcing the pending purchase of another company.<\/p>\n

The purchase required approvals by various U.S. federal agencies.<\/p>\n

The buyer wanted investors and employees to know that it was legally bound to continue to operate distinctly from the other company until all of those approvals had been secured.<\/p>\n

The complete sentence announcing this legal constraint was along the lines of “We will continue to operate as a separate business at arm’s-length from [the company that we are buying].”<\/p>\n

The problem with this sentence is that the hyphen does not belong.<\/p>\n

The possessive “arm’s” is modifying the noun “length”, but together they are not modifying anything else, so no hyphen should appear between “arm’s” and “length”.<\/p>\n

In contrast, a hyphen does<\/em> belong in a phrase such as “arm’s-length transaction”.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>
\n“… separate business at arm’s length from …”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw this yesterday in a company’s announcement about buying another company. Problem: The hyphen does not belong in this phrase. Explanation: One company was announcing the pending purchase of another company. The purchase required approvals by various U.S. federal agencies. 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