Collins Cobuild English Grammar (58 page)

talking about exact age

2.259
  When you want to talk about a person’s exact age, you can do so by using

be
followed by a number, and sometimes
years old
after the number

I
was nineteen
, and he
was twenty-one
.
I’
m
only
63
.
She
is twenty-five years old
.
I
am forty years old
.

of
(or less commonly
aged
) and a number after a noun

…a child
of six
.
…two little boys
aged
about
nine and eleven
.

a compound adjective, usually hyphenated, consisting of a number, followed by a singular noun referring to a period of time, followed by
old

…a
twenty-two-year-old
student.
…a
five-month-old
baby.
…a pretty
350-year-old
cottage.
…a violation of a
six-year-old
agreement.

a compound noun consisting of a number followed by
-year-old

The servant was a pale little
fourteen-year-old
who looked hardly more than ten.
All the
six-year-olds
are taught by one teacher.
…Melvin Kalkhoven, a tall, thin
thirty-five-year-old
.

talking about approximate age

2.260
  When you want to talk about a person’s age in an approximate way, you can do so by using

in
, followed by a possessive determiner, followed by a plural noun referring to a particular range of years such as
twenties
and
teens

He was
in his sixties
.
I didn’t mature till I was
in my forties
.
…the groups who are now
in their thirties
.
…when I was
in my teens
.

Note that you can use
early
,
mid-
,
middle
, or
late
to indicate approximately where someone’s age comes in a particular range of years.

He was then
in his late seventies
.
She was
in her mid-twenties
.
Jane is only
in her early forties
.

over
or
under
followed by a number

She was well
over fifty
.
She was only a little
over forty years old
.
There weren’t enough people who were
under 25
.

Note that you can also use
above
or
below
followed by
the age of
and a number.

55 per cent of them were
below the age of twenty-one
.

a compound noun referring to a group of people whose age is more or less than a particular number, which consists of
over
or
under
followed by the plural form of the particular number.

The
over-sixties
do not want to be turned out of their homes.
Schooling for
under-fives
should be expanded.

     This construction is not common in American English.

2.261
  You can put several of the above structures after a noun to talk about the age of a person or thing.

…a woman
in her early thirties
.
…help for elderly ladies
over 65
.
She had four children
under the age of five
.

2.262
  If you want to say that someone’s age is similar to someone else’s age, you use structures such as
of his age
and
of her parents’
age
after a noun. The
of
is often dropped.

A lot of girls
of Helen’s age
are interested in clothes.
It’s easy to make friends because you’re with people
of your own age
.
She will have a tough time when she plays with children
her own age
.

talking about the age of a thing

2.263
  If you want to say what the age of a thing is, you can use

be
followed by a number followed by
years old