Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Reine3]

Dear teacher:

I am confused about 'foot' and 'feet',which to use?
Like the following sentence:
"The tree is thirty foot/feet high."
"My father is six foot/feet tall."
In my opinion,'feet' is the plural of 'foot',so I consider it should be 'feet' when the number is more than one.
But I found some people use 'foot' on that situation,too.
Are both correct?
And another related question is:
I read a sentence in error recognition questions,"The main cafeteria is usually very crowded around noon, because the nearest restaurant is about fifteen minutes away from here on feet."
The answer is not correct because of 'on feet'.
'on foot' and 'on feet',what's the difference between them?
Could you please help me to recognize them?
Thanks for your help.

Best wishes,
Reine3

[pugachevV]

It's a pretty confusing problem, I agree.
Sometimes either will do and sometimes you have to use one or the other.
Obviously, it won't really cause any practical confusion, if you say foot when you should say feet.
When it comes to height.
The tree is 30 feet tall.
My Dad is 6 feet tall.
Q:How tall is your Dad? A: " He's 6 foot 3", or, "He's 6 feet three inches tall."
"On foot" is a set phrase that means: walking rather than by car, train, plane, etc.

Generally, you will be correct if you use the plural for more than one.

[Reine3]

Dear teacher:

Thanks for your response.
It helped a lot!!!

Reine3