He works 12-hour[s] days - plural or singular?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi teachers,

Please look at this pair of sentences.

He works 12-hour days.
He works 12 hours a day.

Is there any subtle difference?

Thanks in advance

Jupiter

2

Hi

12-hour days sounds like days consist of 12 hours only instead of twenty four hours, i.e, 12- hours is [color=red]adjective and days[color=red] noun… It is just like one-year diploma, I think. The second one seems natural to me.

3

And I agre with Tom. The second one makes sense.

4

I’m afraid I have to disagree with Tom and Pamela. :wink:

Both sentences mean the same thing and both are normal sentences.

Amy

5

:oops: Having reread the first sentence I see that I made a mistake.

6

[color=blue][size=150]Thank you[/size], Amy for once again enlightening me.

Could you please shed some more light on the first sentence? I still do not understand how it is correct! Is days adverbs here? Like he works days but I work nights, but then why 12- hour like an adjective?

Tom

Hi Pamela

…which is why I do not give my shallow opinions on other people’s queries–just to save myself some face! :oops: You hastened to agree with me! :lol:

Tom

7

Hi Tom

“Work X-hour days” is idiomatic. The word day in the idiom refers only to a “workday”. The length of a “workday” is the number of hours spent at work/at the company in a 24-hour period.

Amy