a a-thousand-foot wire
- Thread starter cheshire
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You can either say "a thousand foot wire" or "a one thousand foot wire." In the first example the "one" is implied.
Yes, you can. So you'll say "It's an a-thousand-foot wire". You need the hyphens.
No. The hyphen is incorrect.
A thousand-foot wire, not a-thousand-foot wire.
A two-mile stretch of road, not a-two-mile stretch of road.
A three-foot drop, not a-three-foot drop.
(Actually, I'm not sure you need the hyphen between the number and the unit of measure, although I find many examples of it when I Google. Hyphens are a bother.
)
I'm absolutely positive that it should not be "a-thousand-foot", though, and I rarely say I'm absolutely positive about anything these days.
A thousand-foot wire, not a-thousand-foot wire.
A two-mile stretch of road, not a-two-mile stretch of road.
A three-foot drop, not a-three-foot drop.
(Actually, I'm not sure you need the hyphen between the number and the unit of measure, although I find many examples of it when I Google. Hyphens are a bother.
)I'm absolutely positive that it should not be "a-thousand-foot", though, and I rarely say I'm absolutely positive about anything these days.
I'm really puzzled. If we can say "a one-thousand-foot wire", why can't we say "an a-thousand-foot wire"? I mean "one thousand" = "a thousand", isn't it?
Because it is awkward to say.
Ah! Thanks!
Hi Cheshire, now you have your answer!
To summarize: It is grammatically correct to say "an a-thousand-foot wire", but native speakers never say that because it's awkward.
I always see this structure with the hyphen between the number and the unit of measure, perhaps to make it clear it's an adjective form. Also;No. The hyphen is incorrect.
A thousand-foot wire, not a-thousand-foot wire.
A two-mile stretch of road, not a-two-mile stretch of road.
A three-foot drop, not a-three-foot drop.
(Actually, I'm not sure you need the hyphen between the number and the unit of measure, although I find many examples of it when I Google. Hyphens are a bother.
I'm absolutely positive that it should not be "a-thousand-foot", though, and I rarely say I'm absolutely positive about anything these days.
A twenty-year-old man.
As a native English speaker, I just had to add to this thread even though it has been a couple of years since it was made.
We would never write or say 'an a thousand people' but 'a thousand people', why would anyone believe 'an a-thousand-foot tree' to be grammatically correct? 'A' and 'an' are both articles, and we don't need two articles, do we?
Suffice it to say that we don't need another article when 'a' replaces 'one' as used with number words such as hundred, thousand and million.
If someone else, native speaker or not, knows a helpful rule, please jump in!
Thank you
We would never write or say 'an a thousand people' but 'a thousand people', why would anyone believe 'an a-thousand-foot tree' to be grammatically correct? 'A' and 'an' are both articles, and we don't need two articles, do we?
Suffice it to say that we don't need another article when 'a' replaces 'one' as used with number words such as hundred, thousand and million.
If someone else, native speaker or not, knows a helpful rule, please jump in!
Thank you
What is happening in "a thousand-foot climb" or "a one-thousand-foot climb," it seems to me, is that the indefinite article is a determiner for the head of the noun phrase "a (one-)thousand-foot climb." The adjectives "thousand-foot" and "one-thousand-foot" could be dropped leaving "a climb." Compare "the one-thousand-foot climb" and "the climb"--the definite article used because a reference had been made to the head of the phrase earlier.As a native English speaker, I just had to add to this thread even though it has been a couple of years since it was made.
We would never write or say 'an a thousand people' but 'a thousand people', why would anyone believe 'an a-thousand-foot tree' to be grammatically correct? 'A' and 'an' are both articles, and we don't need two articles, do we?
Suffice it to say that we don't need another article when 'a' replaces 'one' as used with number words such as hundred, thousand and million.
If someone else, native speaker or not, knows a helpful rule, please jump in!
Thank you
In "He climbed a thousand feet," on the other hand, the indefinite article serves a different function, that given in the entry a in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
It seems to me that "a thousand feet" is an adverbial phrase in "He climbed a thousand feet," but that "the thousand feet" is not an adverbial phrase in "He climbed the thousand feet," but is instead a substitute for a noun phrase, something like "the distance (or height) previously mentioned." I'd be happy to hear alternative opinions, however.
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The word a and one are often interchangeable but not in numbers - the "one" is to distinguish it from two or three etc.
A one-thousand-foot climb ...
A two-thousand-foot climb ...
A three-thousand-one-hundred-foot climb ...)
(Not A three-thousand-a-hundred-foot climb ...)
Then there's the awkwardness factor!