Tuesday, February 15, 2011

"Hang Ten" or "Hang 10"?

Math Friends, the fact that the word “numb” is contained in the word “numbers” is purely coincidental. If your brain goes numb when the question of whether to write “2” or “two” is asked, rest assured that there is a rule in English to guide you.

Use numerals when the number is over two words long if spelled out. For example, if I wanted to write 5,897,321, it would take many more than two words to write the number: five million, eight hundred ninety-seven thousand, and three hundred twenty-one. Whew.

Like clouds rolling in to hide the sun, exceptions to the above rule come to chill anyone who thinks one rule suffices for all occasions. The first exception comes when a writer is using data, etc., that is expressed with many numbers. In that case, no matter how many words are involved in spelling out any given number, use all numerals. The data is easier to read and is consistent that way. Addresses, room numbers, percentages, and dollars and cents are also written in numerals.

The second exception involves beginning sentences. There’s another rule that insists that a sentence has to begin with a word. If your first word winds up being a number like 5,897,321 and you’d rather not have to spell that out, change the wording of your sentence so that the number comes somewhere else in the sentence, somewhere after the first word.

What more can I add?
· Compound words (“five-year-old cousin”) or fractions (“one-third”) should be spelled out.
· Numerals should be used for numbers that would take three or more words to spell out.
· Lists or series of numbers are also written in numerals.

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! ‘Til then, hang ten, not 10!

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