Gift for a ten years old girl

[Anonymous]

I'm searching a gift for a smart 10 years old girl in the price
around $50. Any hot toys this year? Any suggestion?

[Paul McKenna]

umm.. noticed something interesting in the post above. 10 "years" old. But dont we normally say 10 "year" old. So which is the correct form? After 10 is a plural figure wouldnt "years" be correct technically?
Sorry couldnt be of much help regarding the gift question... maybe you need to make a trip to toys'r'us store

[Jim Yingst]

In this case, the following would be correct:
    a 10-year-old girl
or

    a girl 10 years old
but not
    a 10 years old girl
or
    a 10-years-old girl
Note the hyphens. I'm not sure if they're mandatory, but to me, "10-year-old girl" looks better than "10 year old girl".
This isn't really any logical extension of other rules; it's a special construct in English when we apply a measure as an adjective. Similarly, the following are also correct:
    26-mile race (a race 26 miles long)
    six-foot-high fence (a fence 6 ft high)
    18-minute gap (a gap of 18 minutes)
As for gifts - sorry, no help here. All my ideas are things I think are cool. It's a lot of work to think of stuff for other people.
[ December 13, 2003: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[Thomas Paul]

I went right to the source... an eleven year old girl.
Beth's recommendation...

Well first of all what does she like? That's a major thing dude!
Nancy Drew computer games.
Bratz dolls.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" on DVD.(i recommend this movie!)

Hope this helps!

[paul wheaton]

I think my ten year old daughter Emily would second "The Pirates of the Caribbean". She bought it with her own money last week and has now watched that tape about eight times.
Everything else I could get out of Emily had to do with horses which probably won't help you.

[Joel McNary]

JY: Note the hyphens. I'm not sure if they're mandatory, but to me, "10-year-old girl" looks better than "10 year old girl".
Technically, they're mandatory. It's the same construct as the let's-use-a-phrase-as-an-adjective-and-have-to-use-a-lot-of-hyphens construct.
In everyday writing, of course, you can do as you please. We don't have an offical grammar police here.

[Ashok Mash]

A polaroid camera, may be?

[Jim Yingst]

[Joel]: Technically, they're mandatory. It's the same construct as the let's-use-a-phrase-as-an-adjective-and-have-to-use-a-lot-of-hyphens construct.
Yeah, I guess they are mandatory. I was thinking of the fact that many hyphenated constructs can lost their hyphens over time as they become more accepted - e.g. e-mail -> email. But I guess this just refers to composit nouns. I can't think of any example where a hyphenated adjective loses its hyphes. It's a different type of construct.
In everyday writing, of course, you can do as you please. We don't have an offical grammar police here.
Unofficially, however...

[Gaurav Mac Mathur]

Useful Replies.. Anyone ??
I am looking for same suggestion.

[Thomas Paul]

Originally posted by Gaurav Mac Mathur:
Useful Replies.. Anyone ??
I am looking for same suggestion.

What was wrong with Beth's recommendations?
Beth also added a Sony Playstation to the list but that is over the $50.

[paul wheaton]

Tom, surely Beth meant "PS2" - as we have the "PlayStation" and it is supposedly no longer satisfactory.

[Thomas Paul]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
Tom, surely Beth meant "PS2" - as we have the "PlayStation" and it is supposedly no longer satisfactory.

Yes, the PS2 is correct.

[Thomas Paul]

The Nancy Drew Computer Game Website