The measuring-units tag has no wiki summary.
16
votes
2answers
2k views
Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”
Why are year, pound and mile in the singular form in the phrases below?
five-year-old children
20 pound note
10 mile run
Is that because they're acting as adjectives, which are always invariable ...
16
votes
7answers
4k views
Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?
I have seen people say both 0.25 mile and 0.25 miles. Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?
6
votes
3answers
8k views
“A total of 10 babies is…” vs. “a total of 10 babies are…” vs. “Ten babies in total are…”
Which one is the correct one?
A total of 10 babies is sleeping. (A)
A total of 10 babies are sleeping. (B)
Ten babies in total are sleeping. (C)
For me, both (A) and (C) are correct. ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Plural/singular verb agreement with units
When writing about specific quantities, should the verb reflect a singular or a plural value? Do abbreviations vs. spelled-out words make any difference?
I took 2 ml of water, which was/were then ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Are units in English singular or plural?
I am a little bit confused about using units in English, sometimes I hear that people use singular units for plural things, sometimes they use plural ones. Which one is correct?
3 meter(s) long?
...
16
votes
5answers
878 views
Why is the unit of measure placed before the value for currencies? Are there other measures where the unit precedes value?
$1,000 is pronounced as "one thousand dollars".
Reading from left to right, it seems like it would make more sense to write the value as:
1,000$. This way the pronunciation of the value follows the ...
29
votes
9answers
2k views
“1 in 10 are” or “1 in 10 is”?
Take the examples:
"One in ten children are dyslexic."
"One in ten children is dyslexic."
"One in ten children has dyslexia."
"One in ten children have dyslexia."
The "one" is singular so 2 and 3 ...
15
votes
20answers
3k views
Are there other idioms like “a stone's throw away” that both describe an activity and act as a measurement?
If something is quite close by, it could be described as being a stone's throw away; even closer might be a hop, skip and a jump. I'm interested in these "units" of measurement based on human action. ...
9
votes
3answers
677 views
How to write units?
In a scientific article, should I write "3m", "3 m", "3 meters", or "3 [meters]"?
9
votes
3answers
890 views
Punctuation with units
I remember reading somewhere that if a unit is abbreviated as one character, there must not be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., 5m, 26K). If the unit is abbreviated as two or more ...
6
votes
3answers
397 views
Why don't we pluralize “foot” in measurements?
For example, to answer the question, "How tall are you?" valid answers include:
Five feet.
Five foot three.
Five feet, three inches.
Why the discrepancy between feet and foot, seemingly only in ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
One and a half minute/minutes [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”
Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a ...
4
votes
3answers
505 views
Term for measuring in fractions of 1 [closed]
When you measure in fractions of 100, you call it a percentage. When you measure in fractions of 1000, you call it promille or per mil. There are even words for fractions of 10000 or 100000.
But what ...
23
votes
3answers
2k views
Is two-thirds plural?
Is 2/3 always, sometimes or never plural?
E.g.
1a) 2/3 of the pizza were eaten.
1b) 2/3 of the pizza was eaten.
2a) 2/3 of the visitors were men.
2b) 2/3 of the visitors was men.
I ...
10
votes
2answers
435 views
How flexible is “a dozen”?
How flexible is the measurement "a dozen"?
If there are nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand people at a rally it is acceptable to say one million people attended, but if eleven people are arrested ...
4
votes
1answer
276 views
Do I use the plural or singular when referring to a positive number less than one?
I've been trying to work out which of the following make best grammatical sense but have been looking at them for so long now that my mind has turned to mush and they both seem wrong.
Which is ...
2
votes
4answers
374 views
What is a word that means “a span of six months”?
Is there a word that means "a span of six months"? That is, I want to connote a stretch of time that lasts half a year, not an event that happens every six months.
2
votes
1answer
509 views
“Forty foot” or “forty feet”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”
Is it correct to say
"This is a forty foot drop"
...
0
votes
2answers
178 views
Usage of hyphens with numeric measurements
What is correct:
two 1-Gb links;
two 1 Gb links; or
two 1Gb links?
I suspect the first, however I do not know the name of this situation, which makes it difficult to for me to find via Google. I ...
