# Simple question about units and grammar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-units-and-grammar/713956 "2015-03-01T21:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-units-and-grammar/713956/1 "2015-03-01T21:53:13Z")
Which is correct? “The unit for acceleration is ms[sup]-2[/sup].” “The units for acceleration are ms[sup]-2[/sup].” I’ve seen it both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-units-and-grammar/713956/2 "2015-03-02T23:54:08Z")
I find the latter sounds more natural, but grammatically, both are correct. Semantically, one might have an advantage over the other, but I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-units-and-grammar/713956/3 "2015-03-03T01:37:15Z")
I’d prefer to say ‘ **A** unit **of** acceleration is’ and ‘The units **of** acceleration **include** ’ Examples: \* A unit of acceleration is feet per hour per day. The units of acceleration include feet per hour per day and furlongs per fortnight per month\* You can also use ‘The’ where the context limits the options to one unit. e.g. In the MKS metric system the unit of acceleration is m/s/s