I have a question about when to use hyphens. For example, do I have a five-year-old dog or a five year-old dog?
Dashes when saying year-olds
May 2nd, 2009 by Brie
7 Responses to “Dashes when saying year-olds”
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Teaching English to Preschoolers with iPhones
We (i.e. the creators of Pain in The English) developed a series of iPhone apps to teach preschool kids how to recognize letters and words. (My wife developed the characters and I did the coding.) Our own 4-year old daughter has been enjoying them. They are now available on Apple's App Store. You can search for "bitskis" on your iPhone, or visit the official website at bitskis.com.
If you have kids and own an iPhone, please check it out. It's $2.
Funny; I had the same exact problem just yesterday while writing for another blog.
a bunch of 5-year-olds
or
a bunch of 5-year olds
or
a bunch of 5 year-olds
or
a bunch of 5 year olds
It’s two hyphens. Five-year-old.
You don’t have to use it at all, but it might be easier to read if you do. I prefer to use it.
In a way, the hyphens put the words together to form an adjective.
Like, “Black-and-white cat.”
From CollinsCobuild:
I say the hyphens are over used here. We are progressing away from Latin, not regressing back.
Keep the hyphen. If you didn’t have it, there might be some confusion as to how many dogs and how old they are. From dyske’s post:
“A bunch of five year-olds” suggests that there are five of them, and they’re around the age of one.
Helps the eye to link them up. The hyphenization of the whole phrase establishes that the whole phrase is the modifier, and it processes a nanosecond or two faster than NO hyphens, which makes the reader do the linking for himself in hindsight. In any case, using only ONE hyphen, in either position, risks changing the meaning, as Izzy notes.