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jeevan159

Mar 7th, 2012 11:00 pm

8 years old or 8-year- old?

Hi,

Which one should I use ? Which one is correct?

8 years old or 8-year- old?

Regards
Jeevan

susan53

Mar 8th, 2012 01:10 pm

Re: 8 years old or 8-year- old?

It depends. In a sentence like
My son is eight years old
you have a "normal" number plus plural noun construction.
but in a sentence like
I have an 8-year-old son
8-year-old functions as a single chunk, and is an adjective. You could replace it with eg
I have a young son.
Because it's an adjective it's not pluralised, and because it must be considered as a single chunk, it's hyphenised.

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