The recipe called for one-third of a cup of flour, but I accidentally put in three cups. Why does one-third contain a hyphen in this sentence?

a. to emphasize the mistake that was made

b. to indicate a form of measurement

c. fractions are hyphenated when used as adjectives

d. numbers are always hyphenated

Question

English

Alma Dickson

23 March, 12:52

The recipe called for one-third of a cup of flour, but I accidentally put in three cups. Why does one-third contain a hyphen in this sentence?

a. to emphasize the mistake that was made

b. to indicate a form of measurement

c. fractions are hyphenated when used as adjectives

d. numbers are always hyphenated

+1

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Bernard Lang · Answer 1

According to the grammar rule regarding numbers, when a compound number is written out, or a fraction is used as an adjective, these should be written using a hyphen between its components. In this case, our support is the latter as one-third is a fraction and not a compound number.

Therefore, your best answer is option C.