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When I look on Google, I see both of these used.


... for students grade 6-12


... for students grades 6 - 12

The plural form has significantly more results on Google and sounds more correct to me because I read the sentence with an implied "in" between the words "students" and "grades".

Which form is correct / better (if any)? In particular, if I were to use this on marketing material for an education-saavy audience, which form should I use?

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closed as general reference by FumbleFingers, StoneyB, MετάEd, Daniel, Mahnax Oct 4 '12 at 2:47


I prefer the plural form and believe (Faith is comforting) that it's correct (not more correct), but the singular is often used. I see it all the time in the phrase page 5, line 6-12, which I always change to lines 6-12 when I edit. They're both understandable, but unless you need to conform to a style manual that stipulates using the singular or the plural, I'd say that the point is trivial, as are many of the debates about what is "correct" when so many couldn't care less. –  user21497 Oct 3 '12 at 4:17
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2 Answers

This is probably going to be a case where you have a choice.

In the first case, I might expand the phrase:

> for students grade 6 through grade 12
> for students grade 6, grade 7, [ . . .], grade 12

In the second case, I might expand the phrase:

> for students grades 6 through 12
> for students grades 6, 7, [ . . .], and 12

None of those are wrong, and neither of the original options is unseemly.

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In this context, where grade represents 'class in which a student studies', the first one is more correct.

... for students grade 6-12
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-1: How about an explanation. –  Javid Jamae Oct 2 '12 at 21:39
Please cite a reputable source which backs up the answer. –  MετάEd Oct 2 '12 at 22:18
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