Except for a few basic rules, spelling out numbers vs. using figures (also called numerals) is largely a matter of writers' preference. Again, consistency is the key.
Policies and philosophies vary from medium to medium. The two most influential guidebooks for publishers, editors, and writers, the
Associated Press Stylebook
and the
Chicago Manual of Style
, have different approaches. The first recommends spelling out the numbers one through nine and using figures thereafter;
Chicago
recommends spelling out the numbers one through ninety-nine and using figures thereafter.
This is a complex topic, with many exceptions, and there is no consistency we can rely on among blogs, books, newspapers, and magazines. This chapter will confine itself to rules that all media seem to agree on.
Rule 1
. Spell out all numbers beginning a sentence.
Examples
:
| Twenty-three hundred sixty-one victims were hospitalized
.
|
Nineteen fifty-six was quite a year
.
|
Note
: The
Associated Press Stylebook
makes an exception for years.
Example
:
| 1956 was quite a year
.
|
Rule 2a
. Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
Examples
:
| Forty-three people were injured in the train wreck
.
|
Twenty-seven of them were hospitalized
.
|
Rule 2b
. Hyphenate all written-out fractions.
Examples
:
| We recovered about two-thirds of the stolen cash
.
|
One-half is slightly less than five-eighths
.
|
Rule 3a
. With figures of four or more digits, use commas. Count three spaces to the left to place the first comma. Continue placing commas after every three digits.
Important
: do not include decimal points when doing the counting.
Examples
:
| 1,054 people
|
$2,417,592.21
|
Rule 3b
. It is not necessary to use a decimal point or a dollar sign when writing out sums of less than a dollar.
Not advised
:
| He had only $0.60
.
|
Better
:
| He had only sixty cents
.
|
OR
|
He had only 60 cents
.
|
Rule 4a
. For clarity, use
noon
and
midnight
rather than
12:00 PM
and
12:00 AM
.
Note
AM
and
PM
are also written
A.M
. and
P.M., a.m
. and
p.m
., and
am
and
pm
. Some put a space between the time and
AM
or
PM
.
Examples
:
| 8 AM
|
3:09 P.M
.
|
11:20 p.m
.
|
Others write times using no space before
AM
or
PM
.
Examples
:
| 8AM
|
3:09P.M
.
|
11:20p.m
.
|
For the top of the hour, some write
9:00 PM
, whereas others drop the :
00
and write
9 PM
(or
9 p.m., 9pm
, etc.).
Rule 4b
. Using numerals for the time of day has become widely accepted.
Examples
:
| The flight leaves at 6:22 a.m
.
|
Please arrive by 12:30 sharp
.
|
However, some writers prefer to spell out the time, particularly when using
o'clock
.
Examples
:
| She takes the four thirty-five train
.
|
The baby wakes up at five o'clock in the morning
.
|
Rule 5
. Mixed fractions are often expressed in figures unless they begin a sentence.
Examples
:
| We expect a 5½ percent wage increase
.
|
Five and one-half percent was the expected wage increase
.
|
Rule 6
. The simplest way to express large numbers is usually best.
Example
:
| twenty-three hundred
(simpler than
two thousand three hundred
)
|
Large round numbers are often spelled out, but be consistent within a sentence.
Consistent
:
| You can earn from one million to five million dollars
.
|
Inconsistent
:
| You can earn from one million dollars to 5 million dollars
.
|
Inconsistent
:
| You can earn from $1 million to five million dollars
.
|
Rule 7
. Write decimals using figures. As a courtesy to readers, many writers put a zero in front of the decimal point.
Examples
:
| The plant grew 0.79 inches last year
.
|
The plant grew only 0.07 inches this year
.
|
Rule 8
. When writing out a number of three or more digits, the word
and
is not necessary. However, use the word
and
to express any decimal points that may accompany these numbers.
Examples
:
| one thousand one hundred fifty-four dollars
|
one thousand one hundred fifty-four dollars and sixty-one cents
|
Simpler
:
| eleven hundred fifty-four dollars and sixty-one cents
|
Rule 9
. The following examples are typical when using figures to express dates.
Examples
:
| the 30th of June, 1934
|
June 30, 1934
(no -
th
necessary)
|
Rule 10
. When spelling out decades, do not capitalize them.
Example
:
| During the eighties and nineties, the U.S. economy grew
.
|
Rule 11
. When expressing decades using figures, it is simpler to put an apostrophe before the incomplete numeral and no apostrophe between the number and the
s
.
Example
:
| During the '80s and '90s, the U.S. economy grew
.
|
Some writers place an apostrophe after the number:
Example
:
| During the 80's and 90's, the U.S. economy grew
.
|
Awkward
:
| During the '80's and '90's, the U.S. economy grew
.
|
Rule 12
. You may also express decades in complete numerals. Again, it is cleaner to avoid an apostrophe between the year and the
s
.
Example
:
| During the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. economy grew
.
|
Many words in English sound or look alike, causing confusion and not a few headaches. This chapter lists some of these words, and other troublemakers.
A, AN
Use
a
when the first letter of the word following has the sound of a consonant. Keep in mind that some vowels can sound like consonants, such as when they're sounded out as individual letters. Also, some letters, notably
h
and
u
, sometimes act as consonants (
home, usual
), other times as vowels (
honest, unusual
).
Examples
:
| a yearning
|
a hotel
|
a U-turn
(pronounced “yoo”)
|
a NASA study
|
Use
an
when the first letter of the word following has the sound of a vowel.
Examples
:
| an unfair charge
|
an honor
(the
h
is silent)
|
an HMO plan
(
H
is pronounced “aitch”)
|
an NAACP convention
(the
N
is pronounced “en”)
|
ABBREVIATION, ACRONYM
This is a fine distinction that some consider nitpicking. Terms such as
FBI, HMO
, and
NAACP
, although widely called acronyms, are actually abbreviations. The difference is in how they are spoken. An
abbreviation
, also called an
initialism
, is pronounced letter by letter. An
acronym
is pronounced as if it were a word. The abbreviation
FBI
is pronounced “eff-bee-eye.” The acronym
NASA
is pronounced “nassa.”
ACCEPT, EXCEPT
Accept
means “to acknowledge” or “to agree to.”
Except
is usually a preposition used to specify what isn't included:
I like all fruits except apples
.
ACRONYM
See
abbreviation, acronym
.
AD, ADD
Ad
: short for “advertisement.”
Add
: to include; to perform addition.
ADAPT, ADOPT
To
adapt
is to take something and change it for a special purpose. A screenwriter adapts a book to make it work as a movie. An organism adapts (itself) to a new environment.
To
adopt
is to take something and use it or make it your own. A government adopts a different policy. A family adopts an orphan.
ADVERSE, AVERSE
Adverse
: unfavorable:
an adverse reaction to the medication
.
Averse
: not fond of; seeking to avoid:
averse to risk
.
ADVICE, ADVISE
Advice
: guidance.
Advise
: to suggest; to recommend.
AFFECT, EFFECT
Affect
as a verb means “to influence”:
It affected me strangely
. As a noun, it is a technical term used in psychology to describe someone's emotional state.
Effect
as a noun means “result”:
It had a strange effect on me
. As a verb, it means “to bring about” or “to cause”:
He's trying to effect change in government
.
AGGRAVATE
This word is not a synonym for
annoy
or
irritate
. To
aggravate
is to make something worse:
He started running too soon and aggravated his sprained ankle
.
AHOLD
You can get
hold
of something, and you can get
a hold
of it. But in formal writing, “ahold” is not a real word.
AID, AIDE
An
aid
is a thing that helps.
An
aide
is a living helper or assistant:
His aide brought first aid
.
AIL, ALE
Ail
: to be ill.
Ale
: an alcoholic beverage.
AISLE, ISLE
Aisle
: a corridor.
Isle
: an island.
ALL READY, ALREADY
All ready
means that everything or everyone is now ready.
Already
refers to something accomplished earlier:
We already ate
.
ALL RIGHT
Two words. Someday,
alright
may finally prevail, but it hasn't yet.
ALL-TIME RECORD
The team set an all-time record for consecutive games won
. Delete
all-time
. All records are “all-time” records.
Similarly, avoid “new record.” The team set a record, not a new record.
ALL TOGETHER, ALTOGETHER
All together
: in a group:
We're all together in this
.
Altogether
: entirely:
It is not altogether his fault
.
ALLUDE, ELUDE, REFER
Allude
means “to mention indirectly.” Do not confuse
allude
with
refer
. If we say, “Good old Joe is here,” we
refer
to Joe. If we say, “That man with the ready laugh is here,” we
allude
to Joe, but we never mention his name.
Allude
is also sometimes confused with
elude
, which means “to escape” or “avoid capture.”
ALLUSION, ILLUSION
Allusion
, the noun form of
allude
, is an indirect, sometimes sly, way of talking about something or someone.
An
illusion
is a false perception.
ALLOWED, ALOUD
Allowed
: permitted.
Aloud
: said out loud.
ALTAR, ALTER
Altar
: a pedestal, usually religious.
Alter
: to modify; to change.
AMBIGUOUS, AMBIVALENT
Something is
ambiguous
if it is unclear or has more than one meaning.
Ambivalent
describes a mixed or undecided state of mind:
Her ambiguous remark left him feeling ambivalent about her
.
AMIABLE, AMICABLE
Both words mean “friendly,” but
amiable
generally describes a pleasant person;
amicable
generally describes a cordial situation:
The amiable couple had an amicable divorce
.
AMID, AMIDST
Either is acceptable, but many writers prefer the more concise
amid
.
AMOUNT, NUMBER
Use
amount
for things that cannot be counted and
number
for things that can be counted:
This amount of water is enough to fill a number of bottles
.
The culprit is
amount
. Some might incorrectly say “a large amount of bottles,” but no one would say “a large number of water.”
a.m., p.m
.
The abbreviation
a.m
. refers to the hours from midnight to noon, and
p.m
. refers to the hours from noon to midnight. Careful writers avoid such redundancies as
three a.m. in the morning
(delete
in the morning
) or
eight p.m. this evening
(make it
eight o'clock this evening
).
To avoid confusion, use
midnight
instead of
twelve a.m
. and
noon
instead of
twelve p.m
.
The terms also are frequently written as
a.m., p.m.; am
,
pm;
and
am, pm
.
AN
See
a, an
.
AND/OR
“Objectionable to many, who regard it as a legalism,” says Roy H. Copperud in
A Dictionary of Usage and Style
. Either say
and
or say
or
.
ANECDOTE, ANTIDOTE
An
anecdote
is a brief, amusing tale.
An
antidote
counteracts or reduces the effects of something unpleasant or even lethal. There are antidotes for snakebites, but there is no known antidote for boring anecdotes.
AN HISTORIC
Some speakers and writers use
an
with certain words starting with an audible
h
âthe word
historic
heads the list. But why do those who say
an historic occasion
say
a hotel, a hospital, a happy home
? There is no valid reason to ever say
an historic, an heroic, an horrific
, etc., and anyone who does so is flirting with pomposity.
ANXIOUS, EAGER
In casual usage,
anxious
has become a synonym for
eager
, but the words are different. Whereas
eager
means “excited” or “enthusiastic,”
anxious
, like
anxiety
, denotes uneasiness.
ANY MORE, ANYMORE
Use the two-word form to mean “any additional”:
I don't need any more help
.
Use
anymore
to mean “any longer”:
I don't need help anymore
.
ANY TIME, ANYTIME
Traditionalists do not accept the one-word form,
anytime
. But it is everywhere, and there's no turning back.
There does seem to be a difference between
You may call anytime
and
Do you have any time?
Always use the two-word form with a preposition:
You may call at any time
.
APPRAISE, APPRISE
A school district official was quoted as saying, “We have been appraised of all the relevant issues.” Bad choice. The word
appraise
means “to decide the value of.” The gentleman clearly meant
apprised
, which means “informed.”
ASCENT, ASSENT
Ascent
: a climb; movement upward.
Assent
: an agreement (noun); to agree (verb).
AS REGARDS
See
in regard(s) to, with regard(s) to
.
ASSUME, PRESUME
Assume
: to take for granted without evidence.
Presume
: to believe based on evidence.
ASSURE, ENSURE, INSURE
To
assure
is to promise or say with confidence. It is more about saying than doing:
I assure you that you'll be warm enough
.
To
ensure
is to do or have what is necessary for success:
These blankets ensure that you'll be warm enough
.
To
insure
is to cover with an insurance policy.
What you
insure
you entrust to a business. What you
ensure
results from your personal efforts.
AURAL, ORAL
Since the two words are pronounced the same, be careful not to write
oral
(having to do with the mouth) if you mean
aural
(having to do with hearing).
AVERSE
See
adverse, averse
.
A WHILE, AWHILE
The two-word phrase
a while
is getting pushed aside by
awhile
. But
awhile
should only be used to mean “for a while.” It's a distinction worth preserving:
It took a while, but I was convinced after thinking it over awhile
.
Always use
a while
with prepositions:
After a while, she arrived
.