AP Style Dimensions

Use figures and spell out words like inches, feet, yards, etc., to indicate depth, height, length, and width. You should hyphenate adjectival form before nouns. For example,

  • He is 5 feet 6 inches tall.
  • The 5-foot-6-inch man.
  • The 5-foot man.
  • The basketball team signed a 7-footer.
  • The truck is 17 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 7 feet high.
  • The room is 9 feet by 12 feet.
  • The 9-by-12 room.
  • The storm left 5 inches of rain.
  • The building has 7,000 square feet of floor space.

Use an apostrophe to indicate “feet” and quotation marks to indicate “inches” (6’5’’) only in very technical senses.

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