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oldtrafford
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
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 Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:52 pm Post subject: Language question! |
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Does anybody have the answer to the following question:
It's a twenty minute bus ride. It's a 30 to 40 minute drive. Why is it in these cases minute and not minutes? For example: I'll be there in ten minutes!
Thanks in advance to those with the answer. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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Well, those phrasings are supposed to be hyphenated -- not a twenty minute bus ride, a twenty-minute bus ride. I have a 4-door car, not a 4 doors car. I have 55-minute class hours at my school, which means I teach for 55 minutes....
The hyphens have dropped from common use (though I, of course, still use them). |
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oldtrafford
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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Cheers fella, you learn something new everyday!!  |
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oldtrafford
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
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nate1983
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:27 am Post subject: |
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| Why do native speakers (or Americans at least) say about height, "I'm 6 foot 2" but "I'm 6 feet"? |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| oldtrafford wrote: |
| Cheers fella, you learn something new everyday!! |
Something else that has dropped from everyday use is the adverbial every day. It seems to have been replaced with the adjectival everyday.
I'm not picking on you, oldtrafford. Your post using that spelling just happens to be in this thread. A friend, who majored in Linguistics just as I did, is firmly convinced that every day has never been a correct spelling. We've had some interesting conversations about the change in language. |
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jizza
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| nate1983 wrote: |
| Why do native speakers (or Americans at least) say about height, "I'm 6 foot 2" but "I'm 6 feet"? |
They actually do say the latter.
eg. "I'm 7 feet tall"
I'm not sure why we say '6 foot 2' but I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not something a Korean ESL learner needs to know. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:18 am Post subject: |
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It has to do with the function of the word "foot" in each sentence.
If it functions as a noun or as and adjective is what makes the difference. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| oldtrafford wrote: |
| Cheers fella, you learn something new everyday!! |
Something else that has dropped from everyday use is the adverbial every day. It seems to have been replaced with the adjectival everyday.
I'm not picking on you, oldtrafford. Your post using that spelling just happens to be in this thread. A friend, who majored in Linguistics just as I did, is firmly convinced that every day has never been a correct spelling. We've had some interesting conversations about the change in language. |
Thank you -- that particular error is a pet peeve of mine -- an everyday annoyance that I deal with nearly every day.... |
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oldtrafford
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:12 am Post subject: |
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everyday
adjective /ˈev.ri.deɪ/
Definition
ordinary, typical or usual
the everyday lives of ordinary Russian citizens
Death was an everyday occurrence during the Civil War. |
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Allthechildrenareinsane
Joined: 23 Jun 2011
Location: Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:21 am Post subject: Re: Language question! |
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| oldtrafford wrote: |
Does anybody have the answer to the following question:
It's a twenty minute bus ride. It's a 30 to 40 minute drive. Why is it in these cases minute and not minutes? For example: I'll be there in ten minutes!
Thanks in advance to those with the answer. |
In your first two examples, "minute" is an adjective, so it isn't marked for number (i.e., it doesn't have a plural form as an adjective).
In the last example, "minute" is a countable noun modified by the adjective "ten," and so it's marked for number by adding "-s" to the end. |
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Allthechildrenareinsane
Joined: 23 Jun 2011
Location: Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
It has to do with the function of the word "foot" in each sentence.
If it functions as a noun or as and adjective is what makes the difference. |
Just noticed this. . .+1.  |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:54 am Post subject: Re: Language question! |
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| oldtrafford wrote: |
Does anybody have the answer to the following question:
It's a twenty minute bus ride. It's a 30 to 40 minute drive. Why is it in these cases minute and not minutes? For example: I'll be there in ten minutes!
Thanks in advance to those with the answer. |
This does get confusing for language learners. If you just bought a house for 4 million dollars (You're Donald Trump), you say I bought a four million dollar house. |
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fancypants
Joined: 22 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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When a noun is used as an adjective, it never takes the plural form.
So as someone said before in this thread, minutes is a plural noun by itself, but when it modifies "bus ride", it becomes an adjective, so the "s" is dropped.
This is also the reason why you never say "offices chair" or "apples pie". |
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