Your preferences, please

Question

Your preferences, please.a nine-pound, five-ounce babya nine-pound-five-ounce babya nine-pound five-ounce babya six-foot, eight-inch mana six-foot-eight-inch mana six-foot eight-inch mana two-hour, twenty-minute playa two-hour-twenty-minute playa two-hour twenty-minute playa five-hour, fifty-two-minute, thirty-second marathona five-hour-fifty-two-minute-thirty-second marathona five-hour fifty-two-minute thirty-second marathon

Wilpeter · Accepted Answer

I notice there hasn’t been a rush to respond to this question. Myself, I have preferences that go sometimes beyond the choices you’ve listed. First, unless there’s a legal need to write the measurements in words, I think numerals are easier to read.

“a 9-pound 5-ounce baby” or
“a nine-pound five-ounce baby”

With height, assuming feet and inches are still used in USA, it seems unnecessary to say “inches”; however, when preceding the object with the weight:

“a 6-foot-8 man” or
“a six-foot eight-inch man”

I have never been to a play or a marathon where the expected time is so precise; but

“a two-hour and twenty-minute play”

“a five-hour fifty-two-minute and thirty-second marathon”

Your preferences, please

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