Meaning & use
two years' worth
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Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
an amount of something equal to what you would use, earn, or need in two years.
Grammar: Used before 'of' or on its own: two years' worth of supplies; I bought two years' worth.
Patterns
- two years' worth of something
- two years' worth
We packed two years' worth of clothes into one small room.
The company has two years' worth of orders already booked.
She saved two years' worth of salary before traveling.
phrasefixed phrasefigurative
the value or benefit that two years of something gives you.
Grammar: Often used figuratively after 'get' or 'have': get two years' worth out of a machine.
Patterns
- get two years' worth out of something
- two years' worth of experience
You should get two years' worth of use from these boots.
The internship gave her two years' worth of experience in six months.
Common combinations
- two years' worth of something
- They stored two years' worth of firewood.
- two years' worth of experience
- He has two years' worth of experience in sales.
- get two years' worth out of something
- We got two years' worth out of that old printer.
- two years' worth of savings
- She spent two years' worth of savings on the trip.
Synonyms and how they differ
- a two-year supply
- This is a more formal noun phrase; it fits better in business or technical writing than in everyday speech.
Word family
- worth noun
- the value or amount of something
- year's worth phrase
- an amount equal to one year of something
Commonly confused: two years' worth or two-year?
two years' worth vs two-year
Two-year is an adjective meaning lasting two years (a two-year contract), while two years' worth means an amount equal to two years of something.
Practice
Which sentence is written correctly?
Choose one answer.
The possessive comes after the plural noun years, so the apostrophe goes after the s: two years' worth. Option 1 misses the apostrophe, option 2 uses a singular possessive, and option 4 wrongly joins the words with hyphens.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “two years' worth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.