0
  • She works with children from 5 to 10 years old.
  • She works with children from 5 to 10 years.
  1. Which one is correct?

Some natives said that they'd say "She works with children aged 5 to 10".

Do you agree? Is this how most people speak?

  1. What about those 2 sentences? Are they wrong at all?

Some natives said: The use of from, rather than of, implies working with them for 5 years, i.e. throughout that age range.

Is that true? I should use "OF" instead?

2 Answers 2

1

Welcome to the site!

1: She works with children from 5 to 10 years old is best. You only really see 5 to 10 years, without old, on the boxes of toys and games, or on clothes (as the other respondent mentioned---although you can see we slightly disagree on whether the old is more natural).

She works with children aged 5 to 10 is fine, maybe even better. The truth is that there are various ways to say this naturally. Other possibilities:

  • She works with children between 5 and 10 [years old]
  • She works with children between the ages of 5 and 10

2: The basic answer is no, you don't need to use of. Other answers may wish to go into more detail. I can see how your natives might have thought that the from variant implies a 'throughout' reading, but this is a) wrong and b) too literal an understanding.

1
1

In English, we usually do say that someone's age is "[x] years old". If you were stating your, or someone else's age you should definitely include the word "old" as it wouldn't be correct without.

However, in the context of your example - where you are stating an age range rather than an age, it is perfectly normal to omit the word "old" and say "from [x]-[y] years". For example, the labels on children's clothes often state "1-2 years", "2-3 years" etc in place of size.

So, in the case of your example, you could say either and it would be understood.

With a range of ages, you would have to use "from" [x] - [y]. Only when speaking about a single could you use "of", for example, "I work with children of 5".

1

You must log in to answer this question.

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