Hyphenating "X-Year-Olds," Part 2: What We Actually Do Last month, I looked at what the dictionaries and style guides have to say about the structure x-year-olds, as in We hosted a party for eight 10-year-olds. Those references that listed it used the hyphenated version, but I have a habit of using it without hyphens: 10 year olds.

Style guides say keep the hyphens in "24-year-olds."

Real usage says most writers drop them entirely.

This month's LinkedIn newsletter explores the gap—and the one form you should always avoid.

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Ever written "10 year olds" instead of "10-year-olds" on autopilot? So do most professional writers. What that tells us about rules vs. real usage is the subject of next week's LinkedIn newsletter.

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English Punctuation — now on Amazon.

Learn to write English clearly and confidently. I share this knowledge to educate and support learners.

Search on Amazon: English Punctuation by Volodymyr Veielis

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How do you hyphenate "three-year-olds"?
When a student challenged my edit, I consulted dictionaries, style guides, and grammar references. The answer? Style guides are unanimous—but getting there was a journey.
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#WritingTips #PunctuationTips #AmEditing

English Punctuation — now on Amazon.

Learn to write English clearly and confidently. I share this knowledge to educate and support learners.

Search on Amazon: English Punctuation by Volodymyr Veielis

Available as eBook & paperback

#EnglishLearning #PunctuationTips #LearnEnglish #Education

A student once questioned my edit removing hyphens from "56-year-olds." I couldn't explain why I'd made that change. What I found when I researched it surprised me. Full story in next week's LinkedIn newsletter: zurl.co/kZVYM
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Ever heard the term em dash and had no idea what it meant? 🤷‍♀️ ❓ 😕

I've got you covered 😉

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