"a 45 years old man"

[nq:1]Hi everybody! Although I prefer the spelling " a 45-year-old man" I understandthat the version with "years" is also correct. However, my question is where exactly to put the hyphens: a 45 years old man a 45-years old man a 45-years-old man[/nq]
All of the above are wrong, in any context or any situation. The correct form is "A 45-year-old man". In formal prose you'd write "A forty-five-y

[nq:2]Hi everybody! Although I prefer the spelling " a 45-year-old man" I understand[/nq]
[nq:1]that[/nq]
[nq:2]the version with "years" is also correct. However, my question ... years old man a 45-years old man a 45-years-old man[/nq]
What's wrong with a 45-year-old-man.
[nq:1]All of the above are wrong, in any context or any situation. The correct form is "A 45-year-old man". In

The original poster was under the impression that both "45 year old" and "45 years old" were correct. That is misleading, however. It depends upon the context. As an adjective followed by a noun, it should be, as you put it, "a 45-year-old man." As a subject or as a predicate adjective it should be "45 years old," as in "Forty-five years old is not a bad age to be." and "He's
45 years old." In

[nq:1]However, my question is where exactly to put the hyphens: a 45 years old man a 45-years old man a 45-years-old man[/nq]
Are you obliged to write this? Better phrasing
might be:
. . . a man 45 years old . . .
which also disposes of the hyphens.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[nq:1]Are you obliged to write this? Better phrasing might be: . . . a man 45 years old . . . which also disposes of the hyphens.[/nq]
Quite right. Your suggestion also eliminates
any confusion as to whether "old" describes
the "man" (as in "old man") or is part of the
phrase "45 year old".
Yes, there are some who are quite convinced that

45 makes one an "old man".