Welcome to our blog community. Are you wondering when should a number be expressed in words, and when in figures? Rules are vary from publisher to publisher. For your own purposes,consider the different effects of the two forms.
Numbers expressed in words convey an air of approximation – or of formality.
Contrast for an example, an office memo is announcing a staff meeting and an engraved invitation to a church wedding.The memo might announce the meeting for 10.30a.m. on 27/4. Or in word form, for half past ten on twenty seventh day of April.
These two forms mark the extreme limits of the number style figure style and work style.
Using figures
This is the style used in business and technical writing and in journalism, since most of the numbers here are usually represent important information that should stand out.
- Large numbers of more than a million can be expressed all in figures, or in a mixed form: 8,900,000 or 8.9 million
- If a sentence or paragraph contains related numbers and some are above ten and some below, practise varies.
Using Words
This style is used in writing thst id formal,literary,or nontechnical; where not many numbers are used; and where figures might look distracting.
- Spell out numbers from one to hundred
- Spell out numbers that can be written in one or two words.: six thousand.
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Making the choices
Your choice of style should depend on the effects you are aiming for-and the policy of the publication you are writing for. More important than the choice itself is the need to be consistent.If you choose the figure style for a particular occasion, then be with it.
Mostly Figures
With Dates
There is a variety of possible styles to choose from.
7 October 1990 – this is now standard form in British publications
October 7 1990 – this is now the commonest in the USA and Canada
7/10/90 – this is common in Britain and other English speaking countries
10/7/90 – this is the US style for 7 October 1990
With Time
Most publications now favour the form 2 o’clock.Another modern tendecy, is to omit the full stops in a.m. and p.m.: 5.30am To avoid the danger that the abbreviation will be read as the common verb am, some publishers omit the space as well : 3.40am.
With Money
In statistical or informal contexts, use figures to express specific amounts: $2, $54.60, about $30million, 70 pence worth. Use words to express tindefinite amounts-millions of pounds.
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Mostly Words
At the beginning of a sentence
Spell out any numbers as the first word of a sentence, and also any related numbers as follow it : Eight to fifteen percent of the voters are undecided
With indefinite numbers
For example: hundreds of men, thousands of women, tens of millions hungry people
Indialogue and direct quotations
For example: She earned five thousands pounds in 1955: he said enviously. Note, however, thatthe year date remains in figures.
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