0.5 nights or 0.5 night

[yppah]

Hi teachers,

Please help to see which sentence is correct and why. Thanks,

0.5 nights shorter than the 2004/05 winter.

or

0.5 night shorter than the 2004/05 winter.

[Tdol]

I'd use the plural there, but it would sound better to me to say 'half a night'.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Tdol

I'd use the plural there, but it would sound better to me to say 'half a night'.

I agree about 'half a night'; I'd only expect '0.5 nights' in a numerical context (accounting or financial - say, in a spreadsheet column with the title 'Number of nights'; entries in that column might be any positive number).

Incidentally yppah, they're not sentences; but you probably know that.

b

[yppah]

Thanks teachers.

It is interesting to see that night should be in plural form here although it is just half a night. :)

Yes, BobK, I quoted a part of a complete sentence. Thanks again.