Jackson6612  +  357797 Mon, 30 Apr 07 05:57 AM Is down-to-earth a single word or three words? In my opinion, it's one word and acts as a single unit. What is your opinion? If you also think it's one word, then could it be written as down to earth without any hyphens? Jackson6612 Joined on Wed, Dec 27 2006 Senior Member 3,688 It’s a difficult question for any man to answer… Whether to follow his dreams no matter what… Or to give in slowly and let life lead you where it will. Hyphens

	Grammar Geek  +  357800 Mon, 30 Apr 07 06:05 AM It is three words. It is a three-word phrase. It should have the hyphens only when it is used to modify a noun, as you did with "You are a down-to-earth person." The same as "full time." She attends school full time. She is a full-time student. But "full time" is still two words. By the way, in addition to "pragmatic," I think that "grounded" is another good synonym. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,669 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Nouns, Synonyms, Hyphens

	Jackson6612  +  359101 Wed, 02 May 07 04:10 PM  Grammar Geek wrote: It is three words. It is a three-word phrase. It should have the hyphens only when it is used to modify a noun, as you did with "You are a down-to-earth person." The same as "full time." She attends school full time. She is a full-time student. But "full time" is still two words. By the way, in addition to "pragmatic," I think that "grounded" is another good synonym. Hi GG, But down-to-earth and full-time are both working as adjectives. Could we say as adjectives both down-to-earth and full-time are functioning as single word, otherwise they consist of three and two words respectively? Jackson6612 Grammar, Nouns, Synonyms, Hyphens

	Grammar Geek  +  359105 Wed, 02 May 07 04:24 PM They FUNCTION as a single word because you can't break them up, but they are two- or three-word phrases. Grammar Geek