I'm editing a piece for a friend in which there is no house style, other than the fact that I'm requested to spell out the possessive of a decade (and I cannot recast per his wish). Instead of 'the 1990s' economic problems', I wrote it as 'the nineteen nineties' economic problems'. Does this look right to you, and would you throw in a hyphen between 'nineteen' and 'nineties'? I couldn't find any relevant examples online or via Google Books. This is an oddball. Any help is deeply appreciated.
Top answer
None of those solutions look good to me. I would recast it as eg 'the economic problems of the nineties'. If he says that you can't recast, tell him to edit it himself!
— Clive
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