foot/feet

Question

HiPlease help me.She is six  foot/ feet tall.I think it is foot as it is adjective modifying another adjective (tall) here

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

She is six feet tall.

She is a six-foot-tall woman.

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you AlpheccaStars.

Suresh

Enoon · Answer

You see it both ways. It has nothing to do with adjective modifying adjective (which never happens—adverbs modify adjectives). "Foot" there is a relic of Old English. I don't know the exact story. I am five foot eleven. "Five feet eleven" is impossible. I might be five feet, eleven inches tall, but that sounds funny to me.

Gingernut · Answer

Hi Vsuresh,

vsureshShe is six foot/ feet tall.I think it is foot as it is adjective modifying another adjective (tall) here

This question is asked on a regular basis! Apologies in advance for the long-winded answer!

As a direct answer to your question: You can use either, she is six foot or she is six feet tall. The difference being the inclusion or exclusion of the adjective, tall.

An expanded explanation is shown below:

Foot is a measurement noun. It can be used as singular foot or as plural foot / feet. The fact that both can be used as a plural is where the majority of confusion comes from.

Situation One

If you are referring to the subject, noun or pronoun) with an adjectival phrase indicating measurement then you are best using feet.

E.g. The man is five feet tall. It is fifty feet long.

Compare: A man is five feet tall (which doesn't sound correct).

Also notice the use of the article the and that these sentences [usually] require that you include the adjectives tall and long.

Exception one: If you drop the adjective indicating measurement then foot can sound acceptable.

E.g. How tall are you? I am five foot.

Compare: I am five feet (which doesn't sound correct)

Exception two: If you include the number of inches as inches is itself plural, then both become acceptable and may be used with or without adjectives such as tall/long.

E.g. How tall are you? I am five foot/feet eleven inches [tall].

Situation Two

If you are using it before the noun as an adjective then you are best using foot.

e.g. It is a forty-foot-long boat. He is a five-foot-tall man.

Compare: That boat is a forty-feeter or it is a forty-feet-long boat (both of which do not sound correct).

Situation Three

In some cases, both can be used interchangeably.

e.g. The plane flew at a height of 2000 foot/feet.

Notice that in the example above, height is a noun, whereas below the reference to measurement is as an adjective.

Compare: The plane flew 2000 feet high (correct) and The plane flew 2000 foot high (incorrect).

Situation Four

If using as a noun or part of a compound noun.

e.g. That boat is a forty-footer (colloquial)

So, in conclusion:

If used as an adjective before a noun = Foot

e.g. Five-foot-tall man

If used as a noun = Foot

e.g. a forty-footer

If dropping the adjective relating to measurement after the noun = Foot.

e.g. I am five foot.

If using with inches = Foot or Feet

e.g. five foot/feet eleven inches [tall = optional]

If the word indicating measurement is in a noun form, (and subsequently uses the preposition of) = Foot or Feet

e.g. Height of 2000 Feet/Foot.

If using as an adjectival phrase after the noun = Feet

e.g. I am five feet tall

I have probably gone into far too much detail here, but I like to be as thorough as possible. I hope that it makes some sense. I would add that I have largely used my own interpretation of example sentences from Oxford/Cambridge dictionaries, in conjunction with how each variation sounds to a native, to derive these so-called rules.

Regards and happy learning,

Gingernut

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi Gingernut;

Your long post has several suggestions and examples which are not idiomatic English. The problem is your incorrect statement that "foot" can be the plural of "foot."

The fact that both can be used as a plural is where the majority of confusion comes from.

Comment:

The plural of foot (as a noun) is not foot. It is always feet. My dog has four feet. When a unit of measurement is combined with a numerical value to make a noun modifier, we use the singular form of the unit of measurement. The value is hyphenated when used attributively.

Thus, these sentences are not correct English.

X I am five foot.

X I am five feet.

X The plane flew at a height of 2000 foot.

Here are some correct examples from this web site.

Lara handed me a 15-foot pole.
An eighteen-inch monitor is too big for my desk.
Emergency room nurses work 12-hour shifts.
Anthony swung his five-pound hammer.

In the above sentences, the measurements are compound adjectives describing nouns.

When numbers are not used as compound adjectives preceding nouns, don’t use a hyphen. (But remember, all two-word numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine must be hyphenated in all cases.)

Examples:
Suzanne won the race by a solid 15 feet.
The room was 17 feet long.
Twelve hours later, he was exhausted.
Anthony’s hammer weighs five pounds three ounces.

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