Compound adjectives with numbers: Grammar chart
Adjectives
Adjectives are words used before a noun or after the verb
- They have an
expensive car. - Your idea is
fantastic . - John looks
tired .
Compound adjectives
We should join the different words in a compound adjective with a hyphen to show that they go together and are part of the same idea.
Number + noun
We can use number + noun as a compound adjective before another noun.
This construction is often used with nouns of measurement, such as
There are two things that you should remember about number-noun compound adjectives:
Use a singular noun. Remember adjectives have no plural form in English:
A two-
Use a hyphen to connect the number to the noun that follows it. This allows the reader to know that both words function as a unit that modifies the noun after it:
- A
30-minute show - A
two-day journey - A
50-metre pool - A
eight-core processor - A
two-bedroom apartment
Note that you can write
Sometimes, a compound adjective is made up of more than one word:
- A
10-million-dollar house - A
seven-year-old child
Number + part of the body + -ed
When we use a number + noun as a compound adjective and the noun is a part of the body, then we have to add
- A
three-legged table - A
seven-headed dragon - A
one-eyed alien - A
four-armed robot
Note that the consonant is doubled when the last syllable of the noun is stressed and is made of consonant + vowel + consonant: legged.