I'm not sure which of the following statements is most appropriate in case of a seedling:
Three year old seedling
Three-year-old seedling
3-yr-old seedling
The third one seems to be a nice abbreviation, but I'm not sure if it's a good fit for a plant's description which is going to be used within an article.
Could you please explain what are the differences between them? I'd like to use the third one, is it appropriate for an article about plants (which should sound official)?
Best Answer
1) A three years old seedling.
2) Three-years-old seedling
3) 3 yr old seedling.
The phrase #1 is grammatically incorrrect because when you use the word "old" to refer to the age of a person or thing, it's a postpositive adjective. For example, you can say "This seedling is three years old, but you cannot say "This is three years old seedling.
The phrase #2 is also incorrect. When you combine the words in the phrase "three years old" by hyphenating them to make it an adjective or a noun, you must use the singular noun (year). So the correct phrase is:
Three-year-old seedling.
As for the phrase #3, it should also be framed in the same pattern as #2 mentioned above;
3-yr-old seedling.