# A couple of grammar questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218 "2007-03-09T04:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/1 "2007-03-09T04:41:35Z")
1. Suppose you’re writing about a person being a specific age. I know that it’s more common to use hyphens such as “four-year-old,” but is it _wrong_ to write “four year old” instead? What if there’s more than one person? Are they four-year-olds or four year olds? 2. God. A specific deity is capitalized, but what if we’re writing about a generic one? Can that be “a god” instead of “a God” and “gods” instead of “Gods”? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/2 "2007-03-09T04:50:46Z")
1. I believe “four-year-old” is correct, plural “four-year-old.” Unhyphenated is wrong. 2. It is customary to write THE God with a capital G and all other gods – such as the Greek gods – lowercase. This is especially true if you are a Christian, but even atheists have adopted this style. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/3 "2007-03-09T05:46:33Z")
The plural would be four-year-olds: A group of four-year-olds were fighting over taking turns on the slide. But that is a little awkward. I would probably leave off the _s_ and add a noun. A group of four-year-old thugs were fighting over taking turns on the slide. (Wicked grandmother takes revenge) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/4 "2007-03-09T06:08:13Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] The plural would be four-year-olds: A group of four-year-olds were fighting over taking turns on the slide. But that is a little awkward. I would probably leave off the _s_ and add a noun. A group of four-year-old thugs were fighting over taking turns on the slide. (Wicked grandmother takes revenge) [/QUOTE] 1. I agree, except that I find nothing awkward about the phrase “a group of four-year-olds.” 2. I can’t think of a construction where “a God” would be proper–it would have to be “god” as it’s being used as a common noun, whereas God is capitalized when used as a proper noun (i.e. referring to one specific god, usually the Judeo-Christian one.) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/5 "2007-03-09T15:38:37Z")
The hyphens are correct in “four-year-olds” (meaning several children who are four years old). A way to remember this is that it helps clarify that we are not talking about four children who are (one) year old. But please do not hyphenate in constructions such as “The child is two years old.” * * * Ditto on the other responses regarding gods. Think of the capitalized version as a proper name. Zeus is not a God, any more than John is a Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/6 "2007-03-09T15:40:31Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] …Zeus is not a God, any more than John is a Ralph. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but Ralph could be a john … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-grammar-questions/395218/7 "2007-03-10T02:52:56Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] The plural would be four-year-olds: A group of four-year-olds were fighting over taking turns on the slide. [/QUOTE] Actually, that’s a mistake. “Group” is the subject and singular, so that should be “was,” not “were”. “Four-year-olds” is merely the object of a preposition. You could say “Some four-year-olds were,” though. But it’s “A group of four-year-olds was.”