How to Write Numbers Correctly 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 76 th 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 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.