0

A five-year-old whiskey A five year old boy

Should multiple adjectives describing a noun be hyphenated?

1 Answer 1

1

Generally, hyphenate two or more words when they come before a noun they modify and act as a single idea. This is called a compound adjective.

Examples:
an off-campus apartment
state-of-the-art design
a five-mile-long road
A five-year-old whiskey (or whisky sometimes)
A five-year-old boy

2
  • so the phrase "A five year old boy" that I commonly see is incorrect? Sep 20, 2019 at 4:53
  • In US English, you may omit the hyphens in compound adjectives, provided this does not lead to ambiguity. British English is stricter. Sep 20, 2019 at 6:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .