Measurements

[Bernard M]

Hi,

I saw this sentence : "He's five foot nine inches tall".

Why is "foot" in singular and "inches" in plural? i don't understand the logic here.

Thank you for your help.

Bernard

[Minoo]

Hello Bernard,

'foot' is the odd one out. You should make the units plural, and you can also say 'five feet, nine inches'.

'five foot' is a mistake that has become  acceptable in spoken English, but best avoided in written English.