Re: inch/inches

[Anne Krabach <annek@toto.csustan.edu>]

Sometimes, it describes not the fish, but the fish story, or the fish's
story.

ann

On Thu, 28 Oct 1999 snewmann@sfasu.edu wrote:

> sometimes it is a lie when it describes the fish!
> 
> stephen
> 
> 
> On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Anne Krabach wrote:
> 
> > "Inch" is an adjective when it describes the fish.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Gillian Jordan wrote:
> > 
> > > Dear Grammarians,
> > > 
> > > On a paper a student wrote:  The lobster (three and a half inch) was too
> > > small  to meet the legal limit. 
> > > 
> > > When the Instructor said that the student should use "inches" instead of
> > > inch (because it was plural), the student disagreed and cited the following
> > > example: I caught a six inch fish.
> > > 
> > > Why is inch singular when is comes before the noun, yet plural when it
> > > comes after: The fish was six inches long?  Can you help?
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Assistant Professor of English
> > > UMA/UCB
> > > 262-7753
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
>