I frequently see hyphenated words that pretend to be English but are really a writer’s attempt to force together words that have nothing in common. The purpose is usually to say something without saying it. Here’s an example I read recently in a financial services report:

Overall, the strategy resulted in a benefits-challenged outcome.

I am still not sure what a benefits-challenged outcome is, but I would guess something didn’t end well.

Be very careful making up hyphenated words. You may be the only one who understands what your new term means. There are words, and there is information. “Benefits-challenged” imparts no information, with confused readers left trying to unscramble the unlikely pairing of words.

How about "The idea didn't work" or "We didn't budge the stock price with the campaign." If I were a client or a shareholder, I'd trust an organization that owned up to its mistakes, told me clearly what happened and moved on to triumph another day. Unless, of course, the benefits were so challenged that the outcome obliterated the company.

Can you give the following sentence some lift? "We are of the view that these estimates will likely be surpassed."

This example, from a real-estate industry report, is the written equivalent of the Energizer bunny grinding to a halt. First, it could get to the point a lot faster, as in ‘We believe” instead of "We are of the view that." Second, it contains a passive construction – "estimates will likely be surpassed" – that sucks out any forward movement.

Passive constructions, or those that back into an action, frequently lead to look-at-me-I'm-impressive kind of writing. And if you aspire to being an Oxford don, that's fine. However, if you want to project an energetic image and give your readers information as clearly and concisely as possible, go for an active version.

"We believe these estimates are low." That's six words instead of
the original 12. A full screen contains about 400 single-spaced words
and takes two minutes to read. Cut that length in half and your readers
will love you.