| The
Rules for Numbers
Are you
puzzled about the rules for numbers? If you are, you are not
alone. People, organizations, and grammar and style books
all seem to have their own preferences.
According
to The Canadian Press Stylebook, you should words for numbers
between one and nine. Use the figures for 10 and up.
If you
are presenting a string of numbers above and below 10, keep
to the rules.
Example
There will be 20 people attending the board meeting: 11 official
members, three staff members and six ex officio members.
However,
there are occasions when you should ignore the over-and-under-10
rule.
Use figures when mentioning:
A. Scores, percentages, votes, odds, dates, years, addresses,
and in money amounts
preceded by a symbol ($5) and in times (8 o’clock, 11:45
a.m.)
B. Use
figures in lists of instructions and when trying to save space
in a headline.
C. Use words when starting a sentence and when using numbers
loosely.
Example
Fifty to 60 people attended the annual general meeting.
Thousands of people were left homeless after the earthquake
and hundreds were injured.
In business
writing, you would never present numbers both ways:
Incorrect: He attended eight (8) meetings.
In North American e-mails, there is a trend to always use
figures for numbers. Although it may be considered a substandard
style by purists today, I believe it will become acceptable
within the next few years.
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