[Grammar] n-year storage? n-years storage? n-years' storage

[midar]

Which is the right way of specifying the period during which cells or organisms were stored (to check their longevity, storability) -e.g. 10-year storage? 10 years storage? 10-years' storage? I found all these versions in the Internet, however, I don't know which one is best. Many thanks for any hepl!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Which is the right way of specifying the period during which cells or organisms were stored (to check their longevity, storability), e.g. ten-year storage? ten years storage? ten-years' storage? I found all these versions in the Internet, however, I don't know which one is best. Many thanks for any help!

Can you give us some examples in full sentences?

In some cases, ten-year storage could be right. In others, ten years' storage could be right.

 

[midar]

The problem is, I do not see this difference! Do these constructions differ in their meanings?
I wanted to report something more or less to this effect: "Physiological characteristics of bean seeds subjected to 25-year storage". Now I start having more and more doubts about this simple sentence:

• can it be "seeds" or should I better say "seed" (and later referring to it should I say "was or were studied"?
• "25-year storage" or "a 25-year storage" or perhaps "25 years storage" or "25-years's storage"?

What are the general rules to follow here?

 

[midar]

Taking some examples from the Internet:
"the seed showed an insignificant decrease in desiccation after 7 years' storage in sealed containers" (https://books.google.pl/books?id=lO...&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q="years' storage"&f=false )
[h=1]"Seed Vault 25 Year Storage Life" ( https://www.amazon.com/Heritage-Vegetable-Germination-Preparedness-Emergency/dp/B01BLJ9UZ4 )[/h]

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

"Physiological characteristics of bean seeds subjected to 25-year storage" is not a sentence. However, the writer has used a hyphen to combine 25 and year to create an adjective to modify storage. That's correct. What kind of storage? Twenty-five-year storage.

In that same way, "Seed Vault 25-Year Storage Life" would be better with a hyphen, because, again, the writer is combining two terms to create one adjective - this time, to modify Life. It's not a 25 life or a year life, it's a 25-year life.

So again, if you're using the two words to create a single adjective, a hyphen helps. Neither example is a possessive, so don't use and apostrophe or apostrophe-s.

As for "after seven years' storage," I've seen it both ways — with and without an apostrophe. The apostrophe means it's a possessive. Is it? It might depend on how you look at it. I'll let a grammar teacher answer that one. I can't.

 

[jutfrank]

the writer has used a hyphen to combine 25 and year to create an adjective to modify storage. That's correct. What kind of storage? Twenty-five-year storage.

No, 25-year storage is incorrect. You can't use a compound adjective to modify a noun in this sense. The idea is that 25 years is the duration, not the type, of storage.

The correct way is 25 years' storage or 25 years of storage.

 

[jutfrank]

I didn't mean to say that it's not ever possible to use 25-year as a modifier—only in that sentence.

The phrase the ten-year storage limit is correct in that example, and so is a three-week holiday, but they aren't comparable to the use in the OP sentence.

The reason I don't like it is that I see the head of the NP that functions as the object of the preposition to as 25 years, and not storage. The construction with 25-year as compound modifier presumes storage to be the head. In other words, when rephrased as genitive construction:

... subjected to 25 years of storage :tick:
... subjected to storage of 25 years :cross:

I have no idea whether other members agree with my assessment above but I'd be interested to know their thoughts. To me, the two constructions are not exactly semantically equivalent.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

No, 25-year storage is incorrect. You can't use a compound adjective to modify a noun in this sense. The idea is that 25 years is the duration, not the type, of storage.

The correct way is 25 years' storage or 25 years of storage.

I like your interpretation a lot, but I can make sense of it both ways.

(And not everyone hyphenates two-word adjectives. It's how I usually see them, but not always.)

 

[jutfrank]

I've since added to my post #8, Charlie.

What do you think of my assessment? Do you see the two versions as equivalent in meaning? If so, which one do you prefer and why?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've since added to my post #8, Charlie.

What do you think of my assessment? Do you see the two versions as equivalent in meaning? If so, which one do you prefer and why?

Yes, twenty-five years of storage makes perfect sense, and storage of twenty-five years doesn't. And I'm sure we'd all go along with storage FOR twenty-five years.

My difficulty with the whole question is that there are so many ways for the three words twenty-five year(s) storage to be used that I just can't think of any over-arching principles to govern them. Midar gave one or two (I'm still not sure which) examples — which I think you moderators are well equipped to grapple with. So I defer to you grammar pros.