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Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”

I was reading an article that used the phrase "15 minutes waits" and it sounded odd to me. I've always said "15 minute waits". Which is grammatically correct? Or are they both acceptable?

Google seems to indicate that "minute waits" (157k) is much more common than "minutes waits" (11.3k).

It also occurs to me that perhaps the former is only valid when 15-minute is hyphenated. i.e. "They all had 15-minute waits."

EDIT: To be clear, the context of the original sentence was that every one of them had a 15-minute wait. Is it ever correct to say "They all had 15 minutes waits"?

Community
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Luke
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1 Answers1

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When you use a quantity and a unit as an adjective, the unit is singular:

  • A 200-pound man...

  • A 280-calorie snack...

When the unit is used as a noun, it's plural (unless the quantity is one, of course):

  • 200 pounds of man crashed down on me...

  • I enjoyed those 280 calories...

Caleb
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  • I notice your examples are not hyphenated. Is the hyphen optional? wrong? – Luke Aug 07 '12 at 17:55
  • Added hyphens. I don't know if it's incorrect to leave them out, but it's certainly not incorrect to put them in. I was just thinking more about the words. – Caleb Aug 07 '12 at 17:57
  • There are exceptions to this rule: "They all had waits of 15 minutes duration." (Or maybe 15 minutes isn't acting as an adjective here, even though it looks like it is.) – Peter Shor Aug 07 '12 at 18:01
  • @PeterShor Sometimes we say in 15 minutes' time, i.e. "in the time of 15 minutes." In that case, minutes is a noun. waits of 15 minutes duration seems like an attempt at the same sort of formation, so perhaps minutes should possessive there, but duration is redundant. I'd suggest 15 minutes' wait or wait of 15 minutes instead. – Caleb Aug 07 '12 at 18:28
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    @PeterShor As opposed to a 15-minute wait. – tchrist Aug 07 '12 at 20:24
  • In addition, 'they all had 15-minute waits' isn't formally correct if it's supposed to mean 'Every one of them had a fifteen-minute wait'. – StoneyB on hiatus Aug 07 '12 at 22:29
  • @StoneyB that's exactly what it's supposed to mean - so why isn't it formally correct? And would "15 minutes waits" be correct in that case? – Luke Aug 08 '12 at 16:21
  • @Caleb While you're correct about the adjective use, I think there's more to this. Is it ever acceptable to say "15 minutes waits"? I've edited the question to be more clear, I'm talking about "Every one of them had a 15-minute wait." – Luke Aug 08 '12 at 16:29
  • @Luke There are a lot of English speakers out there, and they don't all play by the same rules. Perhaps there are regions where 15 minutes waits is acceptable or even the norm. That said, I believe the phrase would be considered ungrammatical according to the normal rules of American English. – Caleb Aug 08 '12 at 17:00
  • @Luke - Compare"All of them had Granny Smith apples" It is incorrect because it leaves open two questions: a) How many waits did each have - just one, or more? and b) Did each have his (or her) own wait, or did they as a group have a 15-minute wait on two or more occasions? Of course context would probably make this clear, and b) in particular is rather far-fetched; but with different terms, the distinction between the loose and the precise forms could be important. – StoneyB on hiatus Aug 08 '12 at 21:31