# EN: a 5-minute walk / (a) 5 minutes' walk - adjective / possessive for durations (hours, days, weeks, months, etc.) - plural, hyphen(s) & article



## nhat

Hi,
I'm writting a cover letter and I don't know whether I should say "a 6-months internship" or "a 6-month intership" ?
It seems to me that it should be "a 6 months internship" but my google researches showed me that "a 6 month internship" is far more used (about 3 times more used)
Can any english native help me ?
thanks.

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one. This thread is about durations qualifying nouns.


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## Wunibald

the internship lasts six months, but it's a _six-month internship_ (note the hyphen). _Six-month_ here is an adjective, and adjectives are invariable in English.
A three-mile walk
a six-foot-tall man
a five-year old boy, etc.


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## nhat

I'm glad I asked the question
I knew it had something to do with the grammar rules of the adjectives.
thanks for your help


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## Mr. R

*We have a three months' supply of tuna to eat.*

Why do they use the possessive form in that sentence?

Thanks


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## onbalance

Because it is a supply *of* three months. It's like you are talking about an actual quantity of food, as opposed to merely its duration.


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## Sbonke

*5 minutes walk*

Good morning,

I'm editing a text and I'm about to amend this to "5-minute walk". But because the author of this text has a good command of English, I wonder: is "a 5 minutes walk" also valid? 

Could someone confirm, or point me to the right place to check on this?


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## Maître Capello

I agree with you and would also think that _a 5-minute walk_ is the only correct solution… But let's wait for the natives!


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## Loopin

Yeah, It's "a 5 minute walk". Same goes for many 5 minute walks. You'd use the plural (minutes) after "for" and before "of" as in "I walked for 5 minutes" and "5 minutes of walking".


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## Welshie

You can say either "it's a 5 minute walk" or "it's 5 minutes*'* walk". Being that the apostrophe is often neglected in this sort of phrase, I would suggest that the author subconsciously mixed the two alternatives without noticing


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## jann

Welshie is absolutely right.

"A five minutes' walk" (with the apostrophe to indicate the possessive) is completely correct, current, and natural.  It also happens to be rather parallel in structure to French (_une affaire de 2 minutes_)...


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## Maître Capello

If using the adjectival form, isn't the hyphen compulsory?

_a 5*-*minute walk_


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## jann

[…]

As for the hyphen, it would perhaps be preferrable to include it... one often does with compound modifiers, to avoid ambiguity.  But at the same time, we are cautioned against using unnecessary hyphens, and there is no real ambiguity in leaving it out...  In short, I cannot say whether it is truly mandatory or not.  On consideration, I would probably include it most of the time (and definitely if I wrote "5-minutes'" with number)... and I probably just omitted it because I typing quickly, in irritation at having lost the post.


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## Maître Capello

jann said:


> On consideration, I would probably include [the hyphen] most of the time (and definitely if I wrote "5-minutes'" with number)...


So you're saying you would always write it with a hyphen if the number is written with digits? I thought the hyphen was only used between adjectives or nouns used as such… (_A 5-minutes' walk_ looks quite odd to me.)


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## Tim~!

MC is correct.

The hyphen is used when the adjective is represented by a compound singular.

So, a child can be _two years old_ but she is a _two-year-old_ (not two-years-old).

The walk can take _five minutes_ but it's a _five-minute walk_ (not five-minutes walk).

A tent can hold _two people_ but it's a _two-man/-person tent_.

I totally disagree with jann on one point: I would never describe anything as _a five  minutes' walk_.  If the article 'a' is included, it's a compound modifier (with hyphen) to describe the noun that the 'a' refers to.  (It's a five-minute walk.)

If you're not using 'a' then you can use "it's five minutes' walk away" or "it's one minute's walk away", where the possessive is used.  For me, this is adverbial use where "it [the noun] is [some adverb of location]" such as "the casino is five minutes' walk away".


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## francecita

Hi all,

I was wondering: is it better

_'a two-week internship'_ 
or  
_'a two-week*s *internship'_  ??

Same with _'month'_ and '_year' -> three-month*s* internship? three-year*s* internship?_

Thank you very much for your help


Peace.


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## jann

a two-week internship 
(a two-weeks' internship - possible, but not common)
a two-weeks internship 

[…]


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## quinoa

... and two weeks' internship.


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## breagadoir

An internship that lasts two weeks = a two-week internship.
A ten-day holiday, a seven-hour flight; a two-year contract; a five-dollar bill; a four-star hotel etc etc
Because the hyphenated part is in fact a compound adjective and in English we don't pluralise our adjectives.
'A four-hundred-and-fifty-seven-page book' is correct too but most people would just write 'a 457-page book'.

A five-minute walk (a 5-minute walk)
A fifty-year-old man (a 50-year-old man)
A two-storey house (a 2-storey-house)
A three-star hotel (a 3-star hotel)
A six-hour flight ( a 6-hour flight)
A ten-dollar bill (a 10-dollar bill)
A two-day conference (a 2-day conference)


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## Lotuselisa

Hi, 


Which is right?


40 years of experience.

or 

40 years' of experience.


Thanks.


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## pepper1

40 years' experience
40 years of experience

Les deux sont corrects. Je dirais que _40 year's experience_ est plus courant.


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## Lotuselisa

Thanks Pepper1

but would it be 40 year's or years' experience?


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## pepper1

40 years'

... _after_ the s, because there are forty of them ;o)


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## Itisi

A word with  *'s*  (with the apostrophe before the 's') can not be a plural - even if you often see it written like that, it's still a mistake.


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## djweaverbeaver

Itisi said:


> A word with  *'s*  (with the apostrophe before the 's') can not be a plural - even if you often see it written like that, it's still a mistake.



the *men's* experience
the *paparazzi's* photos
*women's* rights

You might want to revise your rule.  Also,  I don't agree with pepper1 in that I think that *40 years of experience* is much more common than 40 years' experience. Maybe this is a AmE/BrE difference.  I think it might be common on a résumé/CV, but definitely not in speech.


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## Itisi

djweaverbeaver said:


> the *men's* experience, the *paparazzi's* photos, *women's* rights.


  You got me there!  That will teach me to be righteous!  But I'm fed up with people sprinkling apostrophes where they shouldn't be: 'a pound of apple's'


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## tonyl

It's " 40 years' " because it's genitive: the experience of 40 years


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## Santana2002

When the plural form of a word ends in S (1 year=>10 year*s*) then the possessive form of the plural takes an apostrophe without the addition of _another s_.
When the plural of a word does not end in S (1 man=>10 men) then the possessive form of the plural does take an 's.

Does that hep?


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## PAPPAS

Would you be so kind enough as to confirm whether both of the following sentences are technically correct?

1. From here to the park is only a five-minute walk.

2. From here to the park is only a five minutes' walk.


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## amyc

The first version is correct, in the second you would need to take away the 'a'. Though they're both technically correct and can be used, as a native speaker I would use the second version but without the 'a'. Hope this helps.


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