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Teo Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

20 minutes' break

01. Take a 20 minutes' break.02br
02br
002. Take 20 minutes' break.02br
02br
003. Take a 20-minute break.02br
02br
004. That's a 20 minutes' delay.02br
02br
005. That's 20 minutes' delay.02br
02br
006. That's a 20-minute delay.02br
02br
00Which of the above sentences is not acceptable? 0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00Well, Let me answers it in another way. The only accpetable answers are #3 and 60-

— Goodman

  • 02br 02br 00Well, Let me answers it in another way.
  • The only accpetable answers are #3 and 60-
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11 Answers
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0Your question: Which of the above sentences is not acceptable?02br
02br
00Well, Let me answers it in another way. The only accpetable answers are #3 and 60-
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1font00Hi,02font02br
02br
001. Take a 20 minutes' break.01font00 No02font02br
02br
002. Take 20 minutes' break.01font00 OK02font02br
02br
003. Take a 20-minute break.01font00OK, very comm
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0 See post 050040pid188873
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0 Hello Teo02br
02br
00The rule is "English nouns cannot be modified by more than one determiner".02br
02br
00a (5 minutes)' walk : 02br
00 "a" is a determiner, "(5 minutes)'" is a determiner (not OK)02br
00(5 minutes)' walk :02br
00 "(5 minutes)'s" is a determiner (OK)02br
00a 5-minute walk02br
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0 There's 01b01i00a girls' high school02i02b00 near here. 0-
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0Hello!02br
02br
00I'm quite puzzled, because my grammar states that "a ten minutes' break" and " a thirty miles' drive" are quite correct... 050010id38
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0 00Hello Teo and Pieanne02br
02br
00"There's a girls' high school near here". This "girls'" is a "descriptive genitive" according to the terms used by some grammarians. Unlike the possessive s-genitive, the descriptive genitive behaves like an adjective rather than like a determiner so that it can be compatible with a (central) determiner. So we might say like "There are
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0Thank you, Paco. 05000 My grammar also says that "a 20-minute break" and "a 20-mile drive" are more frequent... I guess this closes the matter!010id1
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0However, in quantitative expressions of the following type there is possible variation:02br
02br
00a ten day absence [singular]02br
02br
00a ten-day absence [hyphen + singular]02br
02br
00a ten days absence [plural]02br
02br
00a ten days' absence [genitive plural]02br
02br
00With temporal nouns i
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Pattern 1 - used adjectivally

We often use a number and a noun combination after a determiner such as an article, this, my etc, and functioning as an adjective before a noun and modifying that noun. In this case, the noun signifying a measure of time, distance, amount, weight etc, is used in the singular:
  • It takes ten minutes to walk there
    It's a ten-minute walk.
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