# Teaching > Lesson Plans >  HELP: she is (13 or 31) years old. which one is correct?

## danah

hello

tomorrow i have a lesson about the subject-verb agreement.
i got this choice which is confusing:
she is (13 - 31) years old.

which is correct?


in the teacher book, it is written that "she is 31 years old" is the correct because: correct orders of numbers in units + tens << what does that mean??



Can any one explain to me please?




Thank you.

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## cafolini

This made me smile. I once had a student who argued that if it was true that 2+3 = 5, why couldn't it be true that 7+4 = 5. He was 5 years old at the time. He later became one of the best symbolists I've known.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 = 0 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000 1001 1010 = 0 1 2 10 11 12 20 21 22 200 201 = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 = ...
Have fun.

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## Silas Thorne

Are you sure that you have written the right question down? It doesn't seem as if there is a right or a wrong answer here. 'She is 13 years old' is also correct.

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## hillwalker

If it is a mathematical question presumably there is a sum to solve [13-31 : 13 take away 31 (which gives a minus result) - or more likely 31 take away 13 which would make the answer *18*].

But if it's a language question then the statements 'She is 13 years old' and 'She is 31 years old' are both correct grammatically.

H

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## cafolini

> If it is a mathematical question presumably there is a sum to solve [13-31 : 13 take away 31 (which gives a minus result) - or more likely 31 take away 13 which would make the answer *18*].
> 
> But if it's a language question then the statements 'She is 13 years old' and 'She is 31 years old' are both correct grammatically.
> 
> H


This is going to make me a fan of Hillwaker. Irresistible argument.

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