Let’s say we’re talking about goods made in a particular area. For this example, my meaning is “Goods made in West Virginia”
Should it be:
W.V.-Made Goods
or
W.V. Made Goods
This is going into a logo, if it makes any difference. Kinda stylized, and trying to be direct and to the point.
If you leave out the hyphen, I, for one, would parse it as a complete sentence or clause, with “W.V.” as the subject, “made” as the verb, and “goods” as the direct object.
Hyphenated when used adjectivally (to describe the goods).
WV-Made
I would put it with the hyphen, but without the periods in the abbreviation (since state abbreviations don’t generally use them, I wouldn’t associate W.V. with West Virginia as fast as I would WV - W.V. could stand for Willam Vartanian or any number of things, but WV is only gonna be West Virginia)
I think the hyphen offers clarity. “West Virginia made goods” may at first be read as “West Virginia did make these goods.” Most people will digest it and realize that “made” is an adjective rather than a verb, but the hiccup while their brain calculates that may detract from the effectiveness of your message.
I think generally speaking any attributive phrase of this sort should be hyphenated, to make clear that the entire phrase modifies the noun.
Yes, in the same way you use hyphenation in man-made materials–or ten-dollar bill, for that matter.