Hyphens in Ages
Hyphens in Ages
Hyphens are often seen in age-related terms. For example:- A twenty-one-year-old has been arrested. (Here, "twenty-one-year-old" is a noun.)
- Two twenty-one-year-old boys have been arrested. (Here, "twenty-one-year-old" is an adjective.)
- They were twenty-one years old. (There is only a hyphen in this third example because "twenty-one" is how 21 is written in full.)
Table of Contents
- More about Hyphens in Ages
- Ages As Compound Nouns
- Ages As Compound Adjectives
- Ages As Predicate Adjectives
- Test Time!
More about Hyphens in Ages
Hyphens are used in three types of age-related terms:(1) The compound-noun form.
For example:- A twenty-four-year-old won the lottery.
(2) The compound-adjective form.
For example:- A twenty-four-year-old woman won the lottery.
(3) The predicate-adjective form.
For example:- The lottery winner is twenty-four years old.
Ages As Compound Nouns
Here are some more examples of the compound-noun form:- He is a two-year-old with attitude. (This is a compound noun. (It is just like words like ice-axe or cooking-oil, which are also compound nouns.) The words in a compound noun are linked together to show they are a singular entity.)
- I look after three two-year-olds from 9 am to 11 am. (As with most nouns, there is a plural version too.)
Ages As Compound Adjectives
Here are some more examples of the compound-adjective form:- He is a two-year-old horse. (This is a compound adjective. It is no different from an adjective like "two-page" in "two-page document.")
- I look after three two-year-old horses. (As with most adjectives, it can modify something singular or plural.)
Ages As Predicate Adjectives
Here are some more examples of the predicate-adjective form:- Jason is two years old. (The predicate-adjective form appears after a linking verb (here, "is") and after the noun it modifies (here, "Jason"). There is no need to use hyphens in the predicate adjective form.)
- Jason is twenty-two years old. (This version contains a hyphen only because twenty-two is spelled with a hyphen under the rules for writing numbers in full.)
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Test Time!
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