Numbers
Q. I’m writing dialogue with blood pressure values. I’m OK with my doc saying, “Your last reading was one twenty-nine.” But what do I do with a reading of 101? “One zero one” sounds like Mr. Spock. “One oh one” is the way people speak, but “oh” may be confused with the exclamation. “One hundred and one” sounds like a temperature, not a blood pressure. Plus, this form would require me to use “one hundred and twenty-nine,” etc., for consistency. “One hundred one” is probably correct, but sounds awkward, and might be confused with repetition: “That’s one hundred—one.” Should I just give up and use numerals? Answer »
Q. How does a person write out ninety-two thousand, fifty-five dollars in numeral form? I should know this, but I’m stumped. Answer »
Q. Section 9.19 (15th ed.) says always use numerals for percentages. Fine. But I’m editing a book of fiction. One paragraph of narration uses a percentage, and then the next paragraph uses a percentage in dialogue. What to do? Here’s an example: Steven was told that 78 percent of the neighborhood had been spared. “Yeah, but what are we to do about the remaining twenty-two percent?” he groaned. Answer »
Q. I’m editing the autobiography of a delightful, elderly R&B songwriter who writes of his song reaching “#3” on the Billboard chart, but later writes of having a “top ten” hit. Are there special rules for documenting music charting, or should we spell out all numerical positions to be consistent with CMOS? In some paragraphs, he lists the many chart positions reached by his songs, so spelling out makes the section difficult to read. I don’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him that we should just summarize his chart-topping accomplishments or put them in an appendix. Egad—am I too tenderhearted to be an editor? Answer »
Q. In a work of fiction, should all numbers be spelled out in dialogue? Answer »
Q.When hours and minutes are mixed in a sentence that is describing a duration, are all numerals used? For instance, is it “The spacewalk lasted 7 hours and 54 minutes” or “The spacewalk lasted seven hours and 54 minutes”? Answer »
Q. Hi—My Manual of Style is buried in a box at home after a move, and we’re having a debate at work. When should numbers be spelled out, and when should they be written in numerals? Answer »
Q. Our company has always presented costs to clients in both written and numerical form. For example, “The cost for our services is two thousand one hundred fifty dollars ($2,150).” One client has pointed out that the number in parentheses is negative and therefore we owe him money. How can we present numbers to clients in both written and numerical form without using the parentheses, which may indicate a negative number? Answer »
Q. When talking about “the turn of the century” (from 1899 to 1900), should it be “the turn of the nineteenth century” or “the turn of the twentieth century”? It seems that since the years 1800 to 1899 have been referred to as the nineteenth century, then the turn from 1899 to 1900 should be referred to as “the turn of the nineteenth century.” Please advise. Answer »
Q. Telephone numbers . . . what format does CMOS prefer? (800) 555-1212 or 800.555.1212 or 800/555-1212. What if the country code is required? Answer »
Q. You’ve stumped me. I teach a copyediting class at Emerson College, where I’ve assigned CMOS for years as a required text. This term, I gave my class a quiz on using numbers in which one of the questions was a simple True or False about spelling whole numbers one through ninety-nine. Some students got it wrong because, they insisted, their book specified numbers through one hundred. Sure enough, several students have one version of 8.3 and the rest another. Since everyone is using the fourteenth edition, we are very curious—not to say confounded. What’s up with that quirky 8.3? Are there any other differences I should know about? I’d appreciate any insights you can offer, especially since I have already ordered the book for next semester. Thanks! Answer »
Q. A quandary: I’m seeing September 11th (added “th”) in the New Yorker magazine, where editing is usually superb, but somewhat antiquated. The New York Times refers to the date as Sept. 11 or 9/11. Please give me a rundown of your recommendations for this particular date, including use as an adjective (September 11 tragedy?). Or is it still too soon to have a set standard? Thanks. I’m probably the 911th person to ask you this. Answer »
Q. If numbers must be written out by using words, are commas added in the same places as they would be used for digits? Example: 23,504,070; twenty-three million, five hundred four thousand, seventy. Thanks! Answer »
Q. Dear style gurus, the rule is to always use the numeral with “percent,” as in “1 percent, 100 percent, etc.” Our question concerns “zero percent.” I say it should be spelled out, because your numeral rule applies to “numbers ONE through one hundred.” My co-worker says, nope, you’ve got to use 0. Who’s right? What’s the rule? Answer »
Q. In prose, when writing percentages, which is correct: 10 percent; ten percent, or 10%? Answer »
Q. In the admittedly rare circumstances when you want to write out the name of a large number, are there any agreed-upon guidelines for the usage of the word “and”? Is it “six hundred seventy-two” or “six hundred and seventy-two”? I was taught the former in grade school; a colleague was taught the latter, equally adamantly. I should note that said colleague is Canadian; is this perhaps a question of American versus British usage? All consulted manuals are, inexplicably, silent on the matter. Answer »
Q. I am editing some reports for my college. I had some good times in the ’60s, was educated in the ’70s, worked in the ’80s and ’90s, but the ’00s confuse me. What do we call them? Answer »
Q. I’m muddling through a budget document, and I cannot remember (i.e., figure out) whether dollar amounts are singular or plural. When written out at the beginning of a sentence, it seems to me that the plural works better, since the subject of the sentence seems clearly to consist of more than one item (Seven thousand dollars are needed for . . .). When presented as $7,000, though, the amount appears to be a singular subject. Answer »
Q. Hi. Is it acceptable to begin a sentence with a mathematical variable? I had been going by the thinking that since one spells out a number when beginning a sentence, one would not begin a sentence with a variable or other mathematical expression. However, I have seen numerous such occurrences in journal articles, leading me to think that copy editors would have made corrections if this were considered a stylistic error. I have not been able to find any advice about this, and so I was wondering about your stance on it. Thank you. Answer »
Q. Hi, CMOS people, I can’t quite seem to figure out whether I should use spelled-out numbers or numerals with units of time—for example, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years. I am not sure whether it should be “2 to 4 weeks” or “two to four weeks”; “30 years” or “thirty years”; etc. I think for numbers over 99, numerals are used, for example “230 seconds.” I understand that numerals should be used with units of measure in general, like kg, cm, °C, and °F, etc. Thank you for your help. Answer »
