ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: adverbs and hyphens.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:16:37 GMT

Thank you very much for your help.

Re: adverbs and hyphens.

Mr Wordy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:50:27 GMT

I would write:

Mr Jones, who will be 45 years old next month, ...

Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month.

Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month; he will then be a 45-year-old man.

The hyphens in the last example prevent the phrase being interpreted as "45 year" + "old man" (unlikely you might say, but to me that's the logic).

In the other examples there is no possibility of misassociation, so there's no need to hyphenate anything.

adverbs and hyphens.

daniel1984 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:24:03 GMT

Hello, I wonder if you could help me a little with adverbs and hyphens? Am I correct in thinking any sentence or phrase used adverbially doesn't require a hyphen? Such as: "Mr Jones, who will be 45-years-old next month." So this would be incorrect and should read "Mr Jones, who will be 45 years old next month"? "Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month" This should be hyphenated as there is no adverb? "Mr Jones will be 45 years old next month; he will then be a 45-year-old man" This is wrong and should be the other way around? for example "Mr Jones will be 45-years-old next month; he will then be a 45 year old man"? Any help on this subject will be much appreciated.