Chicago Manual of Style -- Height and Weight

The Chicago Manual of Style uses this example: He is five feet ten inches tall (no commas).

However, they do not show examples of height and weight as compound modifiers before nouns. If you're familiar with Chicago style, do you think that the following are punctuated correctly per their style?

a five-foot-ten-inch man (Not: a five-foot, ten-inch man.)
The newborn weighed seven pounds eleven ounces. (Not: seven pounds, eleven ounces [I think].)
a seven-pound-eleven-ounce newborn (Not: a seven-pound, eleven-ounce baby [I think].)

Any feedback is deeply and greatly appreciated.

~ds~

 

I think there actually is a comma (i.e., "seven-pound, eleven-ounce newborn"), but I'll have to check.

 

Thank you. I own the current edition, and it's not in there.

 

keep in mind that while the CMS can be helpful in some areas, is not a bible for writers, is aimed at editors and publishers... nor does it lay down the law for all publishers' house style... it's not a viable substitute for a good punctuation guide...

 

Thank you, mammamaia.

What's a good punctuation guide (in your opinion)?

 

Well, I couldn't find anything in grammar guides. I just did a Google search on various examples of compound modifiers and found no consensus. Some people use hyphens between all the words, some do it like I did, and some omit the comma.

Now that I think about it, I've seen phrases like "six-and-a-half-foot man," which makes me think that perhaps using hyphens is the way to go. At this point my advice would be to rephrase it or, at the very least, be consistent throughout the manuscript.

 

see online ones here: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/writing-basics-reference-sites.21049/

for print, you can email me for my 'tools of the trade' list...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

 

The venerable New Yorker uses hyphens throughout height and weight measurements when they serve as adjectival modifiers:

a six-foot-eleven-inch man
a nineteen-pound-four-ounce carp

five feet ten inches tall
ten pounds six sounces
(No commas are used by the New Yorker in any of the aforementioned examples.)

This is a meticulously edited publication, so I'll adhere to these forms (should I ever encounter them in my writing).

Thank you.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that places like the New Yorker have certain in-house rules that they follow. When possible, a grammar guide should be the first place you look.

 

Much obliged.

 

Also, the New Yorker's in-house rules are kind of quirky. For example, it's the only magazine I read that insists on umlauts in words like "reënter" and "coöperate."

 

Yeah, those (the diaereses) were probably popular during the Pony Express. They look like emoticons when placed above the vowels. I think they look silly.

 

can't say i've ever noticed that in 7 decades of perusing the ny'r... but, since it's due to those words having doubled consonants and the need to pronounce each one, i can see why they insist on it, since i use it as well [wherever i can] with my name, in which all three consonants are pronounced...

so, the 'proper' way to show my name is with the umlaut over the 'i'...

 

I always thought your name was pronounced MY-ah. I guess I'm wrong.

 

that's ok, you're forgiven...

actually pronounced 'mah-ee-ah'... it's a greek name [eldest of the pleiades, daughter of atlas, granddaughter of gaia] and a greek word meaning 'great mother/little mother/midwife' and 'witch'[!]