{"id":182,"date":"2009-03-05T16:07:29","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T22:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=182"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:39:33","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T23:39:33","slug":"numbers-as-adjectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/numbers\/numbers-as-adjectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers as Adjectives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A subscriber recently wrote in with a question that&#8217;s a good followup to last week&#8217;s Tip of the Week, <strong>Writing Numbers:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;When are hyphens used with numbers? Is it 13 feet or 13-feet; 12 hours or 12-hours?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rule:<\/strong> Generally, hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea.<\/p>\n<p>This rule can also be applied when a number and a measurement unit taken together form an adjective, that is, when they describe another object.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Examples:<\/strong><br \/>\nA <em>22-inch<\/em> monitor is too big for my desk.<br \/>\nNurses work <em>12-hour<\/em> shifts.<br \/>\nAnthony swung his <em>five-pound<\/em> hammer.<br \/>\nIn the previous sentences, the measurements, such as <em>22-inch<\/em>, describe specific objects, such as <em>monitor<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>When measurements are not acting as adjectives, hyphens are not needed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Examples:<\/strong><br \/>\nSuzanne won the race by <em>25 yards<\/em>.<br \/>\n<em>Twelve hours<\/em> later, she was exhausted.<br \/>\nAnthony&#8217;s hammer weighs <em>five pounds<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pop Quiz:<\/strong> Choose A or B.<\/p>\n<p>1. A. I can&#8217;t believe she wrote a 33-page treatise on how to screw in a light bulb.<br \/>\n1. B. I can&#8217;t believe she wrote a 33 page treatise on how to screw in a light bulb.<\/p>\n<p>2. A. I can&#8217;t believe she wrote 33-pages on how to screw in a light bulb.<br \/>\n2. B. I can&#8217;t believe she wrote 33 pages on how to screw in a light bulb.<\/p>\n<p>3. A. Harold found a 110-year-old book at the flea market.<br \/>\n3. B. Harold found a 110 year old book at the flea market.<\/p>\n<p>4. A. Harold found a book that must have been 110-years-old at the flea market.<br \/>\n4. B. Harold found a book that must have been 110 years old at the flea market.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. A.<br \/>\n2. B.<br \/>\n3. A.<br \/>\n4. B.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A subscriber recently wrote in with a question that&#8217;s a good followup to last week&#8217;s Tip of the Week, Writing Numbers: &#8220;When are hyphens used with numbers? Is it 13 feet or 13-feet; 12 hours or 12-hours?&#8221; Rule: Generally, hyphenate between two or more adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hyphens","category-numbers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}