English Grammar Essentials For Dummies by Wendy M. Anderson & Geraldine Woods & Lesley J Ward

Author:Wendy M. Anderson & Geraldine Woods & Lesley J Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780730384762
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2019-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Deciding When to Use Numerals

Obviously, when you write addresses, phone numbers and dates, you’re going to use figures (or numerals). That’s pretty obvious. What’s not so obvious is choosing whether to write other numbers in numerals or in words. The choice is a matter of style, not of grammar. So your style manual or the authority figure in your life — tutors, bosses, probation officers or whatever — can tell you what they prefer.

For example, the preferred style of the For Dummies series is to use numerals for numbers above ten. So if we go just a little higher, we get to 11. Some organisations elect to use words for any number that can be expressed in fewer than three words. So they spell out one hundred (two words) but switch to figures for 101 (four words).

Australian style recommends that you spell out numbers below 100 if they’re not a key focus of what you’re writing, and use words up to nine and numbers thereafter if figures feature heavily in your document. So, if you’re writing a novel, the likelihood that the text will be thick with numbers is slight and you can apply the ‘words up to ninety-nine’ rule. If, however, you’re preparing a report of a survey conducted at a local farmers’ market, you apply the ‘words up to nine’ rule. Whichever system you use, be consistent. Here are a couple of examples.

Of the 178 people surveyed, only 16 had attended more than 10 times before. (‘words up to nine rule’)

Of the eighty-seven people surveyed, only sixteen had attended more than ten times before. (‘words up to ninety-nine rule’)

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