Do I use the singular or plural form of a noun when describing an attribute of a plural noun?

Question

Take these two sentences for example:

This is to compensate for the fluctuating character length in the sentence.

vs.

This is to compensate for the fluctuating characters length in the sentence.

Which is correct? I would assume the latter but it sounds a bit awkward when spoken compared to the former.

Please don't use code formatting for non-code, it messes with screen readers and is also unnecessary. — Azor Ahai -him-, Jul 23 '18 at 03:42
@AzorAhai Sorry, I figured the fixed font size would help people better see the very slight difference in the two. — Craig, Jul 23 '18 at 03:58

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '18 at 07:11

This is to compensate for the fluctuating character length in the sentence.

character in character length is a noun adjunct or attributive noun or noun (pre)modifier. So your options should really be character length and character lengths.

However, in the given example, the sentence is one and the "character length," i.e., the length in number of characters is fluctuating. So you would have just "character length" as a property of the sentence. There's no need for a plural.

HTH.

Do I use the singular or plural form of a noun when describing an attribute of a plural noun?

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