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Sorry for such ridiculous question, but I cant find an answer by myself. I have a one column row ( row with one column in it ) and two column row ( with two columns in it ). The question is : what is the correct variant ( two column row or two columns row or the third one ) and how I can find grammar rules about that?

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    "One-column row", "two-column row", "three-column row" and so on. – BillJ Aug 8 '17 at 12:23
  • duckduckgo.com/?q=hyphenating+multiple+word+adjectives will give you many resources. – Davo Aug 8 '17 at 12:34
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    If you look up "three ring circus" or "one horse race" in a Google search, you will see that the forms three-ring circus and one-horse race are the ones most usually used. Compound adjectives used prenominally are usually hyphenated (if they're not solid) to show coherence (contrast sweet-shop girl with sweet shop girl). But with some well-known phrases there is little need for disambiguation; you'll find the odd 'three ring circus' and 'one horse town'. Here, two-column row is the sensible spelling as the phrase is relatively rare. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 8 '17 at 12:43
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When a 'number + noun' compound acts as an adjective, it will not take the plural form, even though the number is a plural one. The reason is that the English adjectives have no plural form.

So, the correct usage is two-column row, three-column row etc. Normally we say A five-star hotel, not a five stars hotel.

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  • One does sometimes see "two weeks notice" (including in the title of at least one film), but I think it more proper to use the possessive "two weeks' notice". – Jacob C. supports GoFundMonica Nov 4 at 20:22

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