OST164 T EXT E DITING A PPLICATIONS Chapter 9 – Number Style Mistakes in numbers may be easily overlooked when you are proofreading a document for content. Therefore, you should proofread numbers and statistical data as a separate step. Each number must be checked carefully to make sure it is accurate.

G ENERAL RULE FOR NUMBERS Spell out numbers from 1 through 10. All five doctors agreed to assist us. Mary has three cats and four dogs. Did Benjamin say he had ordered eight new printers? Use figures for numbers above 10. Most of the 20 employees did not take all of their sick leave. Do you think 85 cups and plates will be enough for the party? Go ahead and order 75 bushes for the backyard.

C ONSISTENCY IN PRESENTING RELATED NUMBERS AND UNRELATED NUMBERS If one of the related numbers is above ten, then all of the related numbers should be in figures. Of those surveyed, 1 doctor, 2 nurses, and 15 patients preferred the new plan. Only 2 of the 15 executives have been here for over five years.

N UMBERS AT THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE Spell out a number that begins a sentence as well as any numbers that are related. Reword the sentence if it takes more than two words to spell out a number at the beginning of a sentence. Fifteen associates did not take their flu shots. Four nurses and twelve lab assistants collected the blood samples for the research.

DATES When the day precedes the month or stands alone, express it in ordinal figures (1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, etc.) for emphasis. This year’s conference runs from Monday, the 2nd of August, through Thursday, the 5th. When the day precedes the month or stands alone, express it in ordinal words (the first, the second, the third, etc.) for more formality. The wedding invitation said that the date was the third of June. When the day follows the month, use a cardinal figure (1, 2, 3) to express it. I will visit with my new grandbaby on March 5. The workshop is scheduled for June 25 and July 30. In international and military correspondence, the day appears before the month and year, and no commas are used. Production at the new facility will begin on 8 April 2010.

MONEY Use figures and dollar sign ($) for amounts of money that are exact or approximate. The technician charged $125 for the repairs. Use figures and the word cents for amounts under a dollar. Coffee is 50 cents per cup; doughnuts are 75 cents each. Within a sentence, omit the.00 with whole dollar amounts. However, in columns, add.00 to a whole dollar amount if any number has cents. The first invoice was for $399.40, and$ the second invoice was for $ $599.40

FRACTIONS Use figures for fractions in mixed numbers. Use a space to separate the whole number from the fraction. To construct fractions, use the diagonal (/). 14 5/87 1/2 Spell out fractions that stand alone. A fraction that stands alone does not have a whole number preceding it. The motion was passed with a two-thirds majority. We have shipped three-fourths of the order.

T ECHNICAL M EASUREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS Use figures for technical measurements and specifications such as dimensions and sizes. 3.6 feet a 5:1 ratio11.6 cm 8 MB RAM16 gigabytes32 o F

AGES Spell out ages in nontechnical writing, but use figures when they are technical in nature, such as statistics. My children are in their twenties ( nontechnical ) Traditional college students are between the ages of 18 and 24. ( technical )

I NDEFINITE N UMBERS AND A MOUNTS Spell out indefinite numbers and amounts. Such numbers are general in nature-they don’t indicate a specific amount. About a hundred employees wanted dental insurance. Jorge invested thousands of dollars in his new business. Over sixty employees volunteer at the local elementary school.

T IME Use figures to express clock time with the word o’clock and with the abbreviations a.m. or p.m. Omit :00 for time “on the hour.” Our meeting should end by 3 o’clock. Parcel Shipping, Inc., will deliver the package between 8 and 10 a.m. The restaurant begins serving breakfast at 6 a.m. and lunch at 10:30 a.m.

P ERCENTAGES Use figures for percentages, and spell out the word percent. Use the percent symbol(%) in statistical or technical writing or in columns where space is restricted. There were 82 percent of the employees who attended the meeting. I think our pay increase is going to be 5.8 percent next year.

F OUR - DIGIT NUMBERS AND THE COMMA No comma is needed to separate thousands from hundreds in four-digit numbers such as However, for consistency, use a comma in four- digit numbers when they are used with larger numbers that require commas. Our machine costs $1800. Our machine costs $1,800, but we can buy 12 for $20,000.

T ELEPHONE NUMBERS Use hyphens or periods to separate the parts of a telephone number For a telephone number that includes an area code, use a hyphen, a diagonal, or a period after the area code, or put the area code in parentheses (919) For a telephone number with an extension, use the following format: , Ext

T WO NUMBERS APPEARING TOGETHER When two numbers come together in a sentence (and they are both numbers or they are both are spelled out) - separate them with a comma. Joe purchased 25, 11-inch plates for the party. Annie laid three, two-page letters on your desk to sign. NOTE: To prevent a misreading, it is helpful to spell out the smaller or simpler of the two numbers. When one number is a unit of measurement, make it the numeral. I purchased twenty-five, 11” plates for the party. Juan is taking two, 4-credit courses summer quarter. When two numbers appear next to each other in a sentence and one of the numbers is part of a compound modifier (a 15-foot room, a 30-year mortgage) express the first number in words and the second number in figures. Doing this makes the two numbers easier to read. The bank financed twelve 30-year loans last week. We bought six 2-liter bottles of ginger ale for the punch. Cathy gave the bank teller twenty $5 bills.

O RDINAL NUMBERS Spell out ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) that can be expressed in one or two words. Consider a hyphenated number such as thirty- two as one word. Chip and Amber celebrated their tenth anniversary in June. Scott’s office is on the thirty-second floor.