How to Write NumbersCorrectly

Honors & English 10

Starting a Sentence

• Do not start a sentence with numerals, if the sentence must start with a number, the number must be spelled out, no matter how large it is. Always spell out numbers beginning sentences.

• Ex: Thirty days have past…

One hundred and twelve people have completed a survey…

Six billion different organisms have been discovered…

Inexact Numbers

• Spell out numbers which are inexact, or below 10 and not grouped with numbers over 10.

Ex: Two-headed pigs are a rarity.

The children are about five years old.

Three-way interaction

The children are 6-10 years old.

Below 10 and Above

• Use numerals for numbers 10 and above, or lower numbers grouped with numbers 10 and above.

Ex: For their research, five students interviewed 17 people on hygiene.

In that survey, 4 out of 17 practiced daily hygiene.

Fractions and Expressions

• Spell out common fractions and common expressions.

Ex: One-third of the class actually finished their homework.

Shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July is a wonderful tradition.

Plurals

• To make plurals out of numbers, add s only with no apostrophe.

Ex: In the 1800s, the horse and buggy was the common mode of transportation.

Ordinal vs. Cardinal

• Treat ordinal numbers like cardinal numbers. In other words, numbers that show position, degree or quality should be treated like rule #3.

Ex: She was the sixth person to be nominated for best actress at the 76th Academy Awards.

Back-to-Back Numbers

• Use combinations of written and Arabic numerals for back-to-back modifiers.

Ex: Did you know there are two 5-point stars in the Constitution?

Huge Numbers

• Use combinations of numerals and written numbers for large sums.

Ex: Over 6 million children have been fed in Africa since 2002.

The idea of having 15 million dollars is very appealing.

Exact Numbers

• Use numerals for exact statistical references, scores, sample sizes, and sums.

Ex: About 58.25% of Americans workout daily.

We used 30 subjects, all two year olds, and they spent an

average of 1 hr 20 min per day crying.

Metrics

• Use metric abbreviations with figures but not when written out.

Ex: They walked 3 km before they reached the closest gas station.

They walked a few kilometers before they reached the closet gas station.

Percentages

• Use the percent symbol (%) only with figures not with written numbers.

Ex: Only 6% of the student body uses alcohol.

Only six percent of the student body uses alcohol.