{"id":40,"date":"2007-04-14T04:33:09","date_gmt":"2007-04-14T04:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:07:21","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T23:07:21","slug":"writing-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/numbers\/writing-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deciding whether to write numbers as numerals or as number words is a matter of style. The style for a literary publication may differ from the style for a journalistic publication. The key in all cases is to use a consistent style throughout your writing.<\/p>\n

Many publishers of literary works, such as literary journals and fiction books, prefer that you spell out all numbers less than 101, then switch to numerals for 101 and above. In contrast, most newspapers, scientific journals, and popular presses in the United States prefer that you spell out all numbers less than 10, then switch to numerals for 10 and above. For all types of publications, if you use a numeral for one element of a category within a paragraph, you should use a numeral for all other elements of that category within that paragraph.<\/p>\n

On its website, the highly regarded Chicago Manual of Style<\/em> recommends “consistency ‘in the immediate context,’ which you might call ‘within eyeshot’\u2014that is, anywhere you think a reader might be distracted by the inconsistency.” For instance, you might write the following: \u201cWe published 10 novels last year, 1 of which included 99 chapters.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no global right or wrong, other than to be consistent within your own writing. If you’re using numerals for 10 and above, stick to that throughout your writing. If you’re choosing numerals just for 101 and above, spell out all smaller numbers throughout your writing.<\/p>\n

For more tips on how to treat numbers in writing, see our English Rules web page, Writing Numbers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong>
\nAssume you are following the rules adhered to by popular presses in the United States.<\/p>\n

1A. I needed only five copies of the test, not 50.
\n1B. I needed only five copies of the test, not fifty.
\n1C. I needed only 5 copies of the test, not 50.
\n1D. I needed only 5 copies of the test, not fifty.<\/p>\n

2A. Please give Arthur four pencils with erasers and 15 blank sheets of paper to complete the assignment.
\n2B. Please give Arthur four pencils with erasers and fifteen blank sheets of paper to complete the assignment.
\n2C. Please give Arthur 4 pencils with erasers and 15 blank sheets of paper to complete the assignment.
\n2D. Please give Arthur 4 pencils with erasers and fifteen blank sheets of paper to complete the assignment.<\/p>\n

3A. We will need three pies to feed 12 students and twelve pies to feed 50 students.
\n3B. We will need three pies to feed twelve students and twelve pies to feed fifty students.
\n3C. We will need 3 pies to feed 12 students and 12 pies to feed 50 students.
\n3D. We will need 3 pies to feed twelve students and 12 pies to feed fifty students.<\/p>\n

Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1B. I only needed five copies of the test, not fifty.
\nSince the number five comes first, we follow the standard format of writing out numbers less than 10. Since both numbers are representing copies, to be consistent, we should write out both numbers.<\/p>\n

2A. Please give Arthur four pencils with erasers and 15 blank sheets of paper to complete the assignment.
\nSince the number four comes first, we follow the standard format of writing out numbers less than 10. Since the second number represents sheets of paper, not pencils, we should use numerals as it is 10 or above.<\/p>\n

3A. We will need three pies to feed 15 students and twelve pies to feed 60 students.
\nSince the number three comes first, we follow the standard format of writing out numbers less than 10. Since three represents pies, we will also write out twelve since it, too, represents pies. Since the number of students is above nine, we will use digits to represent 15 and 60.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deciding whether to write numbers as numerals or as number words is a matter of style. The style for a literary publication may differ from the style for a journalistic publication. The key in all cases is to use a consistent style throughout your writing. Many publishers of literary works, such as literary journals and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-numbers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}