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Is the expression, '710 feet in diameter with 18 floors tall' right?

I need to summarize 'The stadium stands 18 stories high. Its dome is 710 feet diameter.'

I think 'with 18 floors tall' is not a grammatically correct expression.

Thanks in advance.

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  • 'A 710 foot, eighteen storeyed building' ... Or 'a 710 foot, eighteen floored building' ...
    – Nigel J
    May 4, 2018 at 13:42

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"with x tall" is incorrect, yes.

Why not "710 feet across and 18 storeys high"? There's a UK/US problem with "stories" and "storeys" though, so be careful. Non-natives should avoid "tall" in general, I think.

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  • But we speak regularly of tall buildings. One problem is that stories are not uniform in height, especially from building to building.
    – Xanne
    May 3, 2018 at 18:23
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    We do, but as a former teacher to non-native speakers there are many situations where confusion may arise over tall/high. Tall involves at least a degree of anthropomorphisation, ultimately. A tree or a skyscraper, or monolith are narrow vertical things, for which "tall" works well, as they approach the proportions of a standing human being, but a stadium is a more squat thing in its general shape. Storeys differ, sure, but it does give at least a general impression of the range of heights involved, which is enough for many purposes.
    – Ben McGah
    May 3, 2018 at 18:31
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    The expression "[with] 18 floors tall" is not a good one. I would recommend "710 feet wide and 18 stories high." A story (or storey) is typically about 10 ft. But it might be better to say that the stadium is "710 feet wide and 180 feet high", or perhaps "...and the top of its dome is 180 feet above the ground".
    – tautophile
    May 3, 2018 at 20:08
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The problem is not only "tall" vs. "high". "X with Y" requires two nouns or noun phrases, but "tall" and "high" are adjectives.
That being said - as @Ben McGah has pointed out - "X stories tall" doesn't sound quite natural. "X stories high" would be better. As he also pointed out, in American English we write "story / stories", while in British English it's "storey / storeys". You can avoid the ambiguity by using "floors" instead.

Some suggestions:

  • The dome is 710 feet in diameter and 18 stories high

  • The dome has a diameter of 710 feet and a height of 18 stories

  • The dome's diameter is 710 feet and its height is 18 stories

By using "-story", you can imply "height" without needing to spell it out:

  • The 18-story dome is 710 feet in diameter

You could do the same for diameter:

  • The dome is 18 stories high and 710 feet across

Don't overdo it, though; I would consider this combination to be over-simplified to the point of diminished clarity:

  • The 18-story dome is 710 feet across.
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