21 years old or 21-year-old

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Anonymous

#575192 Fri, 10 Oct 08 04:33 PM

Hi there, why do some people put "21 years old or 21-year-old?" Can you tell me why and how to use it? Thank you

I am 21 years old.

I am 21-year-old.

He is 26 years old

Anonymous

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Grammar Geek

#575254 Fri, 10 Oct 08 07:56 PM

Anonymous
Hi there, why do some people put "21 years old or 21-year-old?" Can you tell me why and how to use it? Thank you

I am 21 years old.

I am 21-year-old. This one is incorrect. It should be I am a 21-year-old.

He is 26 years old

He is 9. He is 9 years old. He is a 9-year-old.

The last one is a noun.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,958)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Nouns

Ditch

#579125 Thu, 23 Oct 08 01:17 AM

Hi!

I have a question relating to this. Which of the following is correct, and why?

A) 18-and 19-year-olds
B) 18-and-19-year-olds
C) 18 and 19-year-olds

Thanks. (:)) Smile

Ditch

Joined on Fri, Oct 17 2008

New Member (30)

Grammar Geek

#579142 Thu, 23 Oct 08 02:40 AM

Ah, the suspended hyphen.

18- and 19-year-olds

It's the same as "We offer two- and four-week sessions." or "It comes in 2-, 4-, and 6-inch lengths."

If you have two (or more) hyphenated phrases that end the same way, you can use the hyphen after the first one and "suspend" the rest of the phrase until the second one.