Hi, gurus, I am stuck with a saying "come from a well to do background", what does this mean?
come from a well to do background
- Thread starter amandaease
- Start date
Where did you see this? According to the rules of this forum, we need to have context (the entire sentence that contains the phrase) and source (where you saw this).
I found it in a book which is about to be published, therefore, I could not provide the source, I am sorry.
The sentence is like"If you come from a well to do background, you are surrounded by nice people...".
The sentence is like"If you come from a well to do background, you are surrounded by nice people...".
If you look up "well-to-do" (with the hyphens) in the WR dictionary above (Dictionary and thread title search), you will have your answer.
I put well to do in our Search box and this was one of the previous threads that appeared below the dictionary definitions. It's short but accurate. 
well to do
well to do
Oh, I got it, the hyphens, thank you! Here is one more question, is it OK to use the phrase well-to-do but with the hyphens omitted?
I see, thank you!
When you use "well to do" as a noun (meaning rich people), you can leave the hyphens out.
When you use "well-to-do" as an adjective (to describe "background"), it's preferable to put them in.
When you use "well-to-do" as an adjective (to describe "background"), it's preferable to put them in.
This is even clearer, thank you,Miss Julie!