One third /one-third [hyphen, fraction / fractions ]

A

andersxman

Senior Member
Denmark/danish
I just googled "one third" (as in 33,3333%) and I see that at times it's hyphenated ("one-third") and other times it's not. Should it be?

"one(-)half" also shows up hyphenated and not..
 
    • andersxman said:
    I just googled "one third" (as in 33,3333%) and I see that at times it's hyphenated ("one-third") and other times it's not. Should it be?

    "one(-)half" also shows up hyphenated and not..
    Click to expand...
    Unless it it being used as an adjectival phrase I would not use the hyphen:
    • I own one third of this property.
    • I have a one-third share in this property.
    Personally, I would use a third or a half in all cases and thus avoid the need for a hyphen at all.

    EDIT: I was wrong! I have since learned that fractions are almost always hyphenated.
     
    I did consider replacing "one" with "a", but opted for "one" because it is much more frequently used - according to Google!

    Thank you for your explanation, it was very clear.
     
    Google:

    "One third" (web: 76,300,000 - uk: 4,830,000)
    "A third" (web: 289,000,000 - uk: 22,000,000)
     
    In American English, the fraction 1/3 is written out this way: one-third (obviously with a hyphen).

    A third is informal. One-third is technically how the fraction should be written.

    I'd be careful with Google. There are many, many people in the world using computers, and many of the people aren't necessarily well-versed in the use of language.
     
    When a fraction is considered a single quantity, it is hyphenated {She has read three-quarters of the book} Chicago Manual of Style

    She has read one-half of the book.
     
    Yes, but I reckon that you get more hits with "a third" because a lot of phrases that include "a third world war", "a third goal" etc. are included in your hits.

    To avoid these phrases you might google:

    "one third of the total" (1.170.000 per "one third of the total".)
    "a third of the total" (270.000 per "a third of the total". )
     
    Both, sorry.
    It depends on context.
    What do you want to say about it?
    See above :)
    'Tis a wonderful thing, the WordReference Dictionary.
     
    Last edited:
    As a noun: He ate one third of the pie. (Grammatically the same as He ate one piece of the pie.)
    As part of a compound adjective: Each person is entitled to a one-third portion of the pie.
    Some manuals of style have mysteriously become infected with the notion that the noun form of a fraction should be hyphenated, but that is just plain wrong.
     
    I was taught to always hyphenate if I spell out fractions and haven't seen the need to deviate from that rule: one-third, three-quarters.

    But of course no hyphen for a third or a quarter.
     
    I would argue to your teachers that a and one or three are grammatical equivalents in your examples. Another angle:
    If third and share are both nouns, why would you say
    she ate three-quarters of the pie
    and not
    she ate three-shares of the pie?
     
    river said:
    When a fraction is considered a single quantity, it is hyphenated {She has read three-quarters of the book} Chicago Manual of Style

    She has read one-half of the book.
    Click to expand...

    I have to say that, to me, it looks weird like that. It begs for

    "But she hasn't read the other-half of the book"

    which I've never seen (although I haven't looked on g**gle).

    Rightly or wrongly, I think I only hyphenate when it is an adjectival phrase : "They've already played three quarters of the game" but "The cup is only three-quarters full."
     
    andersxman said:
    I just googled "one third" (as in 33,3333%) and I see that at times it's hyphenated ("one-third") and other times it's not. Should it be?

    "one(-)half" also shows up hyphenated and not..
    Click to expand...

    A third, one third, hyphenated or not I can just imagine the Metrication Police in Brussels having a "light-bulb" moment: "Ah-ha! Another couple of words (of the people's language) that we can ban".

    Henceforth it SHALL be "33.3333%".:eek:


    Crikey,the disturbing thing is that I could really believe that this could happen.
     
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    If you're in an environment which uses the Associated Press Stylebook, fractions less than one are spelled out using a hyphen, such as one-third. Numbers greater than one with a fractional part are written as numerals, such as 2 2/3.
     
    While with my head I agree with the people who say you shouldn't hyphenate (there's no logical reason to do so), faced with this problem in a translation for a website, I think "one third" is less clear than "one-third", which links the two words together and makes it instantly clear that this is a fraction.

    Horses for courses, as the saying goes. We can do that with English, because there's no one to tell us we can't.
     
    Wodwo said:
    While with my head I agree with the people who say you shouldn't hyphenate (there's no logical reason to do so), faced with this problem in a translation for a website, I think "one third" is less clear than "one-third", which links the two words together and makes it instantly clear that this is a fraction.

    Horses for courses, as the saying goes. We can do that with English, because there's no one to tell us we can't.
    Click to expand...
    It all depends on what the "one" is.
    If "one" is a determiner, then I wouldn't hyphenate.

    Billy cut the pizza into three equal pieces. He gave one third to Amy, another third to Charlie, and the last third to Dave.

    Billy cut the pizza into three pieces. He gave one-third to Amy, two-fifths to Charlie, and the remaining (pause for arithmetic) four-fifteenths to Dave.
     
    EHM said:
    I would argue to your teachers that a and one or three are grammatical equivalents in your examples. Another angle:
    If third and share are both nouns, why would you say
    she ate three-quarters of the pie
    and not
    she ate three-shares of the pie?
    Click to expand...

    Three-shares doesn't denote a specific fraction, whereas three-quarters does.
     
    Unpossible said:
    Three-shares doesn't denote a specific fraction, whereas three-quarters does.
    Click to expand...
    If by "specific fraction" you mean an exact numerical expression written out in words, "three quarters" is how that is expressed. There is no need whatsoever to hyphenate it. Hyphenating in such a case is merely perpetuating an affectation that made its way into style guides some time ago.
     
    EHM said:
    If by "specific fraction" you mean an exact numerical expression written out in words, "three quarters" is how that is expressed. There is no need whatsoever to hyphenate it. Hyphenating in such a case is merely perpetuating an affectation that made its way into style guides some time ago.
    Click to expand...
    Well, it was indeed a "neologism" in 1840 or so in American English and it took over around 1860, but the hyphenated version "three-quarters of" is now about twice as common than the one lacking a hyphen ( even more so in BE). It seems that the style itself changed "some time ago" and the current guides only reflect that. You need to go back in time to tell them how wrong they were back then with their "affectation", otherwise, it's too late for grumbling:)
     
    JulianStuart said:
    Well, it was indeed a "neologism" in 1840 or so in American English and it took over around 1860, but the hyphenated version "three-quarters of" is now about twice as common than the one lacking a hyphen ( even more so in BE). It seems that the style itself changed "some time ago" and the current guides only reflect that. You need to go back in time to tell them how wrong they were back then with their "affectation", otherwise, it's too late for grumbling:)
    Click to expand...
    Argumentum ad populum, eh? Anyway, I didn't mean to come across all grumbly. Though my country's "journalists" and politicians leave me with little hope for the English language, I still resist mistakes being codified in a reference work on the basis that they have been widely aped. Two editions ago, the yucky non-word "incentivize" was only acknowledged in the AHD as a "usage problem". Now they've caved and given it its own entry. I don't see that as evolution, but rather as a lack of adult supervision.
     
    Indeed! We each have our own threshold for how far back in time we will go before we accept as "standard" what was once considered to be an error :D At some point, Safire's "motto" "When enough of them (us) are wrong they (we)'re right", the parentheses dividing those who have accepted from those who have not yet:)
     
    Ah, Safire...I miss "On Language", and a time when Americans would understand such a column.
    I'll remain in here in 1839, I think, and observe the crumbling of the language from outside, never sticking even a toe into the hyphenated-fraction parentheses.
     
    andersxman said:
    I just googled "one third" (as in 33,3333%) and I see that at times it's hyphenated ("one-third") and other times it's not. Should it be?

    "one(-)half" also shows up hyphenated and not..
    Click to expand...
    One third of people use "one third," one-third "one-third," and a third "a third" - I'd go with the first.
     
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