Question

explain difference in hypenationa thirty-three-year-old man rather liberallyThe man was thirty-three years old.

Accepted Answer

thirty-three-year-old is a compound modifier BEFORE man in 1st example => all hyphenated

thirty-three years is a compound of YEARS, but whole structure is not hyphenated because it is after the verb

also

There wou ld be no hyphen in "He lived to be one hundred." (nothing modified by adjective)

but there is one in "a hunred-year-old man"

Front	explain difference in hypenation a thirty-three-year-old man rather liberally The man was thirty-three years old.
Back	thirty-three-year-old is a compound modifier BEFORE man in 1st example => all hyphenated thirty-three years is a compound of YEARS, but whole structure is not hyphenated because it is after the verb also There wou ld be no hyphen in "He lived to be one hundred." (nothing modified by adjective) but there is one in "a hunred-year-old man"

Man Thirty Three Year Old Thirty Three Years Compound Hyphenated Explain Difference