The Grammar Doctor

Hyphenation

Q.We found your last response very useful. I'd like to ask your opinion on another issue regarding the hyphenation of phrases. Do you hyphenated this:
Among 24 to 34 year - old women.

Or would it be:
Among 24 to 34 year old women.

Someone may say that they are 50 years old, but are they a 50 "year-old" or a 50 "year old"

Is there a standard rule about hyphenating?


A.The general rule about hyphens is that phrases that come before a noun become compound adjectives, and all the elements in the compound are hyphenated:
24 to 34-year-old women (Notice that there are no spaces between the words and the hyphens.)

If the phrase comes after the noun, it is not hyphenated:
The women are 24 to 34 years old.

"Fifty year old" (or 50 year old) in the sentence as you used it is a compound noun. I don't believe you need hyphens in that sentence.

She is a 50 year old.

But
She is a 50-year-old woman.

And
The woman is 50 years old.


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