early harvesting

17:11 Dec 2, 2016 

As do I. It's just that Oxford's example reads:
"the mid 17th century"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mid

Which looks odd to me. The American Heritage Dictionary says:
"Usage Note: Many compounds other than those entered here are formed with mid-. In forming compounds, mid- is normally joined to the following word or element without a space or hyphen: midpoint. If the second element begins with a capital letter, it is separated with a hyphen: mid-May. It is always acceptable to separate the elements with a hyphen to prevent possible confusion with another form, as, for example, to distinguish mid-den (the middle of a den) from the word midden. Note that the adjective mid1 is a separate word, though, as is the case with any adjective, it may be joined to another word with a hyphen when used as a unit modifier: in the mid Pacific but a mid-Pacific island."

But it seems to clash with usage in newspapers. E.g.:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/27/us-coast-gua...
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/us-coast-guard-suspends-search-...


I think hyphens are a lost cause...

14:16 Dec 2, 2016 

I use a hyphen with mid- and would write "mid-August". Same with centuries: "the early seventeenth century" but "the mid-seventeenth century".

13:55 Dec 2, 2016 

It just might make it more apparent that you should use hyphens. On a side note, I have grave misgivings about omitting the hyphen with mid- (so even if you say "in early August," I'd still say "mid-August"). The American dictionaries agree with me; Oxford gives you a bit more leeway.

13:49 Dec 2, 2016 

Could do. Not essential. I can't decide whether it's better with or without.

13:47 Dec 2, 2016 

What about adding "one" at the end of the second list?

"On this day, it was nine grains for the early-maturing, 35 grains for the mid-maturing, and 15 grains for the late-maturing one."

07:28 Dec 2, 2016 

Thank you so much!!

07:15 Dec 2, 2016 

I presume you mean in the sentence beginning "On this day". I would say that it is quite acceptable without mentioning "variety" here. After the previous sentence, every reader will understand that "the early maturing" stands for "the early maturing variety" (and similarly for mid maturing and late maturing). This kind of ellipsis, omitting the noun, is correct usage in this context and has the advantage of brevity. It would be perfectly correct, of course, to add "variety" in this sentence, but it is not essential, and would be more cumbersome.

One other point is that since "early maturing" and the others are compound adjectives preceding a noun, traditional rules dictate that they should be hyphenated: "the early-maturing variety". In the elliptical form, the hyphen would also be used: "the early-maturing", meaning "the early-maturing [variety]". Many people omit hyphens in this situation nowadays, but I still prefer to include them.

Let's see whether others take a different view.

07:05 Dec 2, 2016 

Thank you very much!
I would like to know whether i should "early maturing" instead of "early maguring variety." Please neglect "early harvesting."

06:59 Dec 2, 2016 

I don't understand what you want to know. Are you asking whether you should use "early harvesting" instead of "early maturing"? "Early maturing" seems to be much more common, so there's no reason to change it.