Numbers and monetary ranges

[Grammarholic]

Which are preferred in the following -without recast? My preferences are the underlined ones - good?

a 10% a year increment
a 10 percent a year increase
a 10%-a-year increment
a ten-percent-a-year increment
a ten percent a year increment
a ten- to twenty-percent-a-year increase
a ten to twenty percent a year increase


a $5,000 a year job
a $5,000-a-year-job
a $5,000- to $10,000-a-year bonus incentive
a $5,000 to $10,000 a year bonus incentive


a 40 to 60 cent a week raise
a 40- to 60-cent-a-week raise

a 5- to 10-cent tax hike
a 5 to 10 cent tax hike

a $55 million to 65 million a year contract
a $55 million- to $65 million-a-year contract
a $55-million- to $65-million-a-year contract

a $100 million a year business
a $100 million-a-year business
a $100-million-a-year industry

Best,

gh

[Mordant]

I generally dislike compound modifiers containing numerical ranges. They can make things a bit hard on the eye and impede smooth reading.

I prefer "an annual 10 percent increase" and "an annual 10-20 percent increase."

I don't like "increment" because it doesn't always mean increase.

A $5,000-a-year job
An annual bonus incentive between $5,000 and $10,000

A weekly raise of 40-60 cents

A 5-10 cent tax hike

A contract ranging from $55 million to $65 million annually

A $100-million-a-year business (industry?). (A business and an industry are not necessarily the same thing.)

[Grammarholic]

Thank you for your response. So you do like "$100-million-a-year business"?

And what about with a range? 1 or 2 below?

1. a $50-million- to $100-million-a-year business
2. a $50 million- to $100 million-a-year business

Best,

gh

[Mordant]