Do we hyphenate adjectives including numbers?
What is the correct way of saying this:
- I have completed three years of a six years course.
- I have completed three years of a six-years course?
And also, should it be 'six year' or 'six years' here?
adjectives grammatical-number
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
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What is the correct way of saying this:
- I have completed three years of a six years course.
- I have completed three years of a six-years course?
And also, should it be 'six year' or 'six years' here?
adjectives grammatical-number
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
New contributor
user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago
add a comment |
What is the correct way of saying this:
- I have completed three years of a six years course.
- I have completed three years of a six-years course?
And also, should it be 'six year' or 'six years' here?
adjectives grammatical-number
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
New contributor
user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
What is the correct way of saying this:
- I have completed three years of a six years course.
- I have completed three years of a six-years course?
And also, should it be 'six year' or 'six years' here?
adjectives grammatical-number
adjectives grammatical-number
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
New contributor
user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
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user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
edited 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
79.5k8150256
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
New contributor
user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 18 hours ago
user329952
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asked 18 hours ago
user329952
1
1
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user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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New contributor
user329952 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago
add a comment |
"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago
"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago
"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago
add a comment |
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John Lawler calls this the eleven-year-old boy rule.
When a noun modifier consists of more than one word, it goes after the noun it modifies.
When a noun modifier consists of only one word, it goes before the noun it modifies.
Mnemonic: an eleven-year-old boy versus a boy eleven years old
A single word (which includes a hyphenated word, as here) is an adjective; a multi-word phrase is an adjectival phrase. Adjectives are not inflected for number, and will always be singular — hence "eleven-year". It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a seven-year itch or an eleven-year-old boy, it's always year before the noun. You might get an itch every seven years, where the adjectival phrase does have a plural.
In your example, six-year is a single adjective going before the noun it modifies. It should be hyphenated because it's a single word, and it should be singular because adjectives are always singular.
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
add a comment |
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John Lawler calls this the eleven-year-old boy rule.
When a noun modifier consists of more than one word, it goes after the noun it modifies.
When a noun modifier consists of only one word, it goes before the noun it modifies.
Mnemonic: an eleven-year-old boy versus a boy eleven years old
A single word (which includes a hyphenated word, as here) is an adjective; a multi-word phrase is an adjectival phrase. Adjectives are not inflected for number, and will always be singular — hence "eleven-year". It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a seven-year itch or an eleven-year-old boy, it's always year before the noun. You might get an itch every seven years, where the adjectival phrase does have a plural.
In your example, six-year is a single adjective going before the noun it modifies. It should be hyphenated because it's a single word, and it should be singular because adjectives are always singular.
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
add a comment |
John Lawler calls this the eleven-year-old boy rule.
When a noun modifier consists of more than one word, it goes after the noun it modifies.
When a noun modifier consists of only one word, it goes before the noun it modifies.
Mnemonic: an eleven-year-old boy versus a boy eleven years old
A single word (which includes a hyphenated word, as here) is an adjective; a multi-word phrase is an adjectival phrase. Adjectives are not inflected for number, and will always be singular — hence "eleven-year". It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a seven-year itch or an eleven-year-old boy, it's always year before the noun. You might get an itch every seven years, where the adjectival phrase does have a plural.
In your example, six-year is a single adjective going before the noun it modifies. It should be hyphenated because it's a single word, and it should be singular because adjectives are always singular.
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
add a comment |
John Lawler calls this the eleven-year-old boy rule.
When a noun modifier consists of more than one word, it goes after the noun it modifies.
When a noun modifier consists of only one word, it goes before the noun it modifies.
Mnemonic: an eleven-year-old boy versus a boy eleven years old
A single word (which includes a hyphenated word, as here) is an adjective; a multi-word phrase is an adjectival phrase. Adjectives are not inflected for number, and will always be singular — hence "eleven-year". It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a seven-year itch or an eleven-year-old boy, it's always year before the noun. You might get an itch every seven years, where the adjectival phrase does have a plural.
In your example, six-year is a single adjective going before the noun it modifies. It should be hyphenated because it's a single word, and it should be singular because adjectives are always singular.
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
John Lawler calls this the eleven-year-old boy rule.
When a noun modifier consists of more than one word, it goes after the noun it modifies.
When a noun modifier consists of only one word, it goes before the noun it modifies.
Mnemonic: an eleven-year-old boy versus a boy eleven years old
A single word (which includes a hyphenated word, as here) is an adjective; a multi-word phrase is an adjectival phrase. Adjectives are not inflected for number, and will always be singular — hence "eleven-year". It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a seven-year itch or an eleven-year-old boy, it's always year before the noun. You might get an itch every seven years, where the adjectival phrase does have a plural.
In your example, six-year is a single adjective going before the noun it modifies. It should be hyphenated because it's a single word, and it should be singular because adjectives are always singular.
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
edited 17 hours ago
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
answered 17 hours ago
Andrew Leach♦
79.5k8150256
79.5k8150256
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
add a comment |
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I don't know whether I'd call it a single word. You're not going to find it in any dictionaries. And with things like under-the-radar, the spelling will change depending on whether it's an attribute or predicate adjective, which is a really weird property for a "word" to have.
– Peter Shor
16 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
I'm very happy for others to write a better answer. This question seems to be a good one to make the canonical dupe-target.
– Andrew Leach♦
15 hours ago
add a comment |
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"A six-year course". Measure expressions like this have a singular noun base, hence "year", not "years". As Andrew Leach says in his answer, six-year" is a compound adjective, a single word, and hence should be hyphenated.
– BillJ
16 hours ago