常見錯誤 Common mistake: a fifty dollars note

Posted by Grant Richardson, 30th July, 2018

A simple but common error is to use a number and the plural form of a noun to form a compound adjective:

We took a two weeks holiday. ✗

Let’s take a ten minutes break. ✗

I found a fifty dollars note. ✗

These must use the singular forms of the nouns (week, minute, dollar):

We took a two-week holiday. ✓

Let’s take a ten-minute break. ✓

I found a fifty-dollar note. ✓

Note: hyphens (-) are needed.