Grammar Cop receives a lot of questions about formatting numbers in a manuscript. What are the rules?
The most widely accepted rule is to spell out numbers less than one hundred but use numerals for greater than 100. However, as with all rules of punctuation and grammar, there are exceptions.
- The first word of a sentence, if it’s a number, must be spelled out. Nine hundred homes were destroyed by the tsunami. (Unless it’s the year: 2011 begins the new decade.)
- Parts of a book are numerals. Chapter 12, Pages 44-48, Volume 2, page 3.
- House Numbers in an address are numerals. They live at 16 Acorn Street.
- Street names in an address are spelled out. They live at 401 Third Street.
- Spell ages of persons. She lived to be ninety-nine years old.
- Spell out numerals (except a year) in dialogue. “I’ve told you a hundred times.”
- Spell out numbers for consistency in a case of mixed conditions: Ninety to two-hundred people typically attend the meeting.
- Spell out round numbers and ordinal numbers. They had to sell a thousand tickets. She sold the thousandth ticket.
- Spell out the number directly preceding a second number. He bought two 100-pound bags of onions.
- Amounts of money that you spell out require the word dollars or cents. She paid $10,500 for the car. She paid two thousand dollars as a down payment.
- Temperature is expressed by a numeral followed by the degree symbol. It was 32°F this morning.
- Spell out numbers of fractions if they are not attached to the whole number. Three-fourths of the book is finished. It took 25½ weeks to write.
- Dates are numerals except in formal legal writing. She graduated from college May 30, 1989. She graduated in the class of ‘89.
- Exact time of day is in numerals if it would be awkward to write it out. She heard the gun shot at 7:43 A.M. He arrived at eight o’clock.
- Sports scores, poll results, voting results are numerals.
As you see, there are a lot of exceptions to expressing numbers in writing. Either print out this Web page to use as a guide or bookmark the site.
Good writing!
Cheryl
I think this is really useful for any type of writing not just stories. Advice like this you don’t see often and it is always to useful to return back to. Thanks Cheryl.
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