Hyphenated words

ScottsEnglish

Hyphenated words are two words joined together by a hyphen (-).  Middle-aged is an example of a hyphenated word.

Consider this sentence:

He was a tall, middle-aged man.

In this sentence, the words 'middle' and 'aged' are considered together, as one idea.  They are adjectives describing the man (man = noun).  Here's a rule for hyphenating words: 

Use a hyphen to join two or more words which are being used as a single adjective before a noun.

Here's what a student recently wrote in an essay:

Hence, I agree that governments have to allocate ample amounts of money for health related activities to help their nations to prosper through the healthy living of its citizens.

There is a problem with punctuation in this sentence.  The problem is two words are acting as a single adjective before a noun but they have not been hyphenated!

Can you fix the italicised sentence above?  Please write your answer in the comment box below.

leila

health-related activities?
healthy-living of its...?

ScottsEnglish

Hence, I agree that governments have to allocate ample amounts of money for health-related activities to help their nations to prosper through the healthy living of its citizens.