Question about hyphens in this phrase

My thought is not to hyphenate. Others may advise differently.

I don't claim this is a rule as I doubt there'll be a set rule to which you must adhere. This is MY way of looking at it being a lifetime English (American) speaker.

That being said, if you were to use the phrase as part of an event or similar collective group...such as '6-to-8-mile-race', it is appropriate to hyphenate.

As you have demonstrated...with the phrase 'thirty-year-olds', which is a group of similarly linked people in an age group. There is no particular similar link with the phrase '6 to eight miles'.

Correct: "I walked around 6 to 8 miles."

Correct: "The event was geared for 6-to-8-mile-runners."

The reference is to runners as a collective group who run that specific range of races. It's not modifying or explaining the running distance, per se, but refers now to that specific class of runners.

In spite of some experience in the field Ovi I'm never quite sure what the rule is, or even if there always is one

It seems to me that the miles don't fall in quite the same category as the distances. A hyphen hooks words together (esp where they modify), so in the case of "a group of twenty- to thirty-year-olds," If you omit the first or second hyphen for instance you get twenty to thirty one-year-olds

…whereas if you omit the last you get something puzzling: An unspecified number of oldsters of uncertain age who might, for instance, have been pursuing a notion or political idea for some twenty to thirty years


In the case of distance "six-to-eight miles" seems right because as you said, "six-to-eight" is a unit modifying "miles." However for some reason someone else will probably explain below, in this instance collo wouldn't use hyphens at all per Rag's excellent posting above. However in

I'm not sure I'd use that last hyphen. Dunno why, collo mebbe

Rag I suppose it depends on the habitat, but I wouldn't have used that last hyphen; while I'm supposing collo wouldn't use any at all

Unless it were a very complex compound adjective, eg, "….taking into account a 2-to-3-mile-race argument vs 6-to-8-mile-race considerations," though I'd be more likely to say, "….taking into account the argument involving a 2 to 3 mile race vs one of 6 to 8 miles

and



More here..

Forgive me Tim but where and when

Don't be lazy, Dale. Follow the link I gave and read..

Thanks! I actually left the hyphens out, for now. Ultimately, I think it's about ease of reading, but if there's an ironclad rule, I tend to get myself in trouble by ignoring it. Thank you all for your reply!

Thank you! I left the hyphens off!

Oops sorry Tim. I had assumed that Wiki was somebody posting in another thread

..Just wait til you're 82

I'll wait, though I'm not in a hurry..