a 100 meters race or a 100-meter race?

Question

I think both "a 100 meters race or a 100-meter race" are possible.

He ran a 100 meters race.

He ran a 100-meter race.

How can you explain the difference?

PS: The question has been closed because it turns out to have been answered in these threads. That is what I was told by moderators.

Shouldn't "five minute walk" be "five minutes walk" in this sentence? X feet long/high versus (a/an) x-foot [noun] "6-foot tall" or "6-feet tall"?

Now I wonder how on earth those threads answer my question? None of them tackles the issue of "a + number + a plural noun+ a singular noun"

a 100 meters race has nothing to do with a five minute talk or five minutes' talk. If you guy had given me a thread where there would be a five minutes talk, I would agree with you, but no way I will now. You did a poor job. Very poor.

Did you read any of the answers to the three different question threads the community thought would answer your question? You didn't manage to transcribe "five minutes walk" correctly, so I'm guessing the answer is 'no'. — ColleenV, Sep 02 '21 at 19:56
Here's a link to an answer that should help, assuming you understand "feet" is the plural of "foot": When a measurement is used right before the noun it measures, use a hyphen and the singular form of the unit of measurement... — ColleenV, Sep 02 '21 at 20:04
First of all, I don't see any difference in terms of grammar between "five minutes' walk" and "five minutes' talk". But what you wrote "five minutes walk" is plain wrong. Secondly, I read all of them. Maybe I missed something. I have just looked through the one you recommend. This pattern "a + number + a plural noun+ a singular noun" is still not there. — user1425, Sep 04 '21 at 16:46

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '21 at 11:16

Some words can act both as nouns and units. As a unit, words don't use the plural

A 5-metre rope / A 5-pound note / A 5-pint jug

But they can also be nouns

It is five metres long / I've five pounds in my pocket / The jug holds five pints.

So you should say "A 100-metre race" but "The race is 100 metres long".

However there is a fair amount of variation and non-standard use among English speakers, so "a 100 metres race" could be called a variation rather than a mistake.

Would you agree to classify "a 100 meters race" as a name while "a 100-meter race" as a description of a race? — user1425, Sep 02 '21 at 11:53

a 100 meters race or a 100-meter race?

1 Answers1