If I am writing someone's height or weight, would these be correct? a nine-pound-eleven-ounce infant a six-foot-three-inch athlete Or should I omit the hyphen after "pound" and "foot," and punctuate it thus? a nine-pound eleven-ounce infant a six-foot three-inch athlete Thanks. Best, Jake
Ah, these measurements always feel a little awkward when writing them. I try to avoid writing them out like that if I can, by writing them like this instead: "An infant weighing nine pounds, 11 ounces ..." "The athlete is a force to reckon with at six feet, and three inches tall." You wouldn't say "foot," since he's taller than 1 foot, which means we're dealing with the plural form of "foot." Even though that's how it sounds when we say it out loud, it's not correct. Or you can just use numbers. I was always taught that numbers under 10 are fine to leave in numeric form (someone correct me if I'm wrong in the case of measurements), so -- "The athlete is a force to reckon with at 6'3." ETA: I don't think that this is a rule, but if you choose to leave the weight in numbers, I would also use the shortened version of the measurement, just because I feel like it'd look strange to mix the short version with the long version. So -- "An infant weighing 9lbs, 3oz ... "
I agree completely with No-Name Slob, except that I would say if you're going to have two measurements in there (9 lbs 11 oz) I would be consistent with what you use. Rather than her example of "nine pounds, 11 ounces..." using either "nine pounds, eleven ounces," or "9 pounds, 11 ounces." "Nine, 11" bugs me. Either write it alphabetically or numerically, but be consistent either way. I'm not sure if that's so much a rule as personal preference, to be honest.
Lol, oops. That was a mistake! I'm tired. OP - Absolutely make sure it's nine pounds, eleven ounces. Haha. Read it several times. And if you're tired, ask @Lyrical to double check.
jakeybum, you're starting an awful lot of threads on the use of hyphens and commas. I know I've no room to talk when it comes to making new threads, but what's the deal here, exactly? If you explain why you're so obsessed with hyphens and commas, we may be able to offer some overall advice.
Not really sure, OurJud, although I was recently diagnosed with AHS (acute hyphenitis syndrome). Do you think that could play a part in this? Thanks, though, for your offer of intervention. LMFBO!!!
These threads are also the exact same threads started by another member (actually, it may have been two members) in the past, making me think that it's the same person. I mean, the questions are pretty much exactly the same. It's like an M. Night Shymalan movie in here.
I feel like such a turd now It wasn't my intention to bring your thread to a grinding halt, jakeybum. I was just trying to establish what your fascination / problems with hypens and commas are, so that we can offer better help.
Don't feel bad. Like I said, these threads are exactly the same as the ones posted by dillseed (and another member whose name I don't remember), making me believe it's all the same person. Also, a lot of these threads are essentially asking the same question over and over again, so I'm not sure what the deal is with that.
There have been enough of these that I found myself wishing that we had a "Commas and Hyphens and Numbers, Oh, My" forum so that these could leave Word Mechanics.
