Using numbers.
• Day,
month, minute, mile, kilo, etc. are always SINGULAR when used (with a number)
immediately before a noun:
A six-minute
wait.
A ten-second
silence.
A five-mile
race.
My travel
agent had arranged a 6-day coach tour.
The company
provides a three-month training course.
Compare:
'We waited
for thirty minutes.'
'We had a thirty-minute wait.'
• When you
say 100, 1000, etc. or write these numbers in words,
Use…
A hundred,
A thousand
(WITH a)
The palace was built a thousand years ago.
Compare:
'The palace was built 1000 years ago.'
For emphasis or to be exact, it is possible to use one instead of a:
I am one hundred percent against the idea.
• After
a/one/five/twelve etc. the words hundred, thousand, etc. are always SINGULAR
and are not followed by of:
Five hundred
children are born in the city every day.
More than three
thousand people were there.
Similarly, of is NOT used after 100, 250, 3000 etc.
If you kill
200 whales a year, they will soon disappear.
You give a
general idea of how many or how much:
'There were hundreds of stars in the sky.'
'They've
spent thousands (of pounds) on improvements to the house.'
• Use and between hundred and the next number.
(In American
English, and is often omitted, especially in formal styles.)
BrE- The club has about a hundred and thirty members.
AmE- The
club has about a hundred (and) thirty members.
