Overview
Rules for how numbers are expressed in print depend on the formality of the writing task. When writing is very formal, such as in a book or essay, numbers are spelled out as words. In less formal writing or in letters, numbers are often expressed as numerals. When using a specific style, such as APA or MLA, the rules for numbers are determined by the context and how they are most clear.
Numbers in Formal Writing
In formal writing, numbers are written out as words, such as in the sentence, “The largest Roman amphitheaters had as many as forty thousand seats, but many of them were destroyed in the fifth century.” Similarly, round numbers, numbers from one to ten, and round numbers greater than one thousand are also written in words, such as seven hundred miles, almost a million board feet of lumber, in the eighteen hundreds, one thousand one hundred and ninety-five.
Numbers in Letters and Reports
In letters or reports, the same numbers that were written in words in formal writing are often written in numbers, such as in the sentence, “We visited a Roman amphitheater that had more than 39, 000 seats.” However, if numbers are used to begin a sentence in either formal or informal writing, the numbers are spelled out in words, as in the sentence, “Four classrooms had a total of 160 students.” It is better to recast the sentence so that it does not begin with a numerical value, such as “The fire destroyed over 1700 acres” rather than “1700 acres were destroyed by the fire.”
Numbers in APA Style
Numbers from one to ten are expressed in words, but numbers greater than ten are written in numerals, so that “Subjects included 13 girls and seven boys.” Numerals can also express time, such as 16 seconds, dates such as January 25, 2016, or ages, such as 27.
Numbers in MLA Style
Numbers that can be written in one or two words, such as “from one to ten” or “There were more than five hundred new words introduced” are written out in words. However, large exact numbers are written as numerals, such as “More than 356 new varieties were named in the catalog.”
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