Re: Hyphenation

[PAUL VENANCIO <PAULVO@IDS.NET>]

Fred Muller wrote: This may sound like a strange question, but I have
asked several English teachers. . . How do you hyphenate "Sixteen year
old" ---
The answer, according to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English, depends on
whether the phrase is an adjective or noun. If it is an adjective--as
"sixteen-year-old daughter"--then it is hyphenated as shown. If, however,
it is used as a noun--as "I have a sixteen year old."--it is *generally*
not hyphenated. Perhaps other reference sources would give other
answers--but this made some sense to me. Cheers, Paul Venancio
(paulvo@ids.net)