He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?

jupiter · Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:35 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

Hi teachers,

Please look at this pair of sentences.

He works 12-hour days.
He works 12 hours a day.

Is there any subtle difference?

Thanks in advance

Jupiter

Tom · Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:23 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

Pamela · Fri Sep 08, 2006 7:51 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

And I agre with Tom. The second one makes sense.

Yankee · Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:27 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

I'm afraid I have to disagree with Tom and Pamela. Wink

Both sentences mean the same thing and both are normal sentences.

Amy
_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

Pamela · Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:52 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

Having reread the first sentence I see that I made a mistake.

Tom · Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:38 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

Thank you, Amy for once again enlightening me.

Could you please shed some more light on the first sentence? I still do not understand how it is correct! Is days adverbs here? Like he works days but I work nights, but then why 12- hour like an adjective?

Tom

Hi Pamela

...which is why I do not give my shallow opinions on other people's queries--just to save myself some face! Embarassed

You hastened to agree with me! Laughing

Tom

Yankee · Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:53 am *He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?*

Hi Tom

"Work X-hour days" is idiomatic. The word day in the idiom refers only to a "workday". The length of a "workday" is the number of hours spent at work/at the company in a 24-hour period.

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

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