Do you write 2.5 or 2 1/2? Is it $2,000 or $2,000.00? And if someone is the best, are they number 1 or No. 1? Some words about numbers:

Numerals

Write out numbers from one to nine and use figures from 10 on. Write out any number if it starts the sentence. The same is true for first to ninth.

Use a comma in numbers larger than 999

  • Ex. 1,000, not 1000.

Use figures in sequential designations, whether the noun is capped

  • Ex. Grade 7, Article 3, Highway 6) or lower case (page 3, paragraph 9, size 8).

Use numerals for rankings

  • Ex. OVC is number 1 or No. 1 in the country, not number one. Day 1, not day one.

Use figures for fractions

  • Ex. 2 1/2 days, not two-and-a-half days; 2.5 per cent, not two-and-a-half per cent.

Use figures when age stands alone after a person’s name

  • Ex. Timmy, 2, has two brothers.

Temperature & Measurement

Always use figures for temperatures. Spell out Fahrenheit and Celsius on first reference, then the symbol separated from a number by a space.

  • Ex. 20 degrees Celsius, -20 C

With measurements, use most commonly used measurement first, with alternatives in brackets. These symbols don’t need periods except at the end of a sentence. They never take an ‘s’ in the plural.

  • Ex. The tractor can reach speeds of 30 km/h and till 3.3 hectares (7.9 acres).

Percentages

Write out percent, not per cent, or % except in headlines

Dates & Times

Spell out months when used in full, but shorten for dates. Do not add write 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. for dates (Though these can be used in rankings).

  • Ex: He will be there for the month of August but checks out on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

Write noon or midnight to avoid confusion.

Use decimals around a.m. or p.m. No need to note minutes for times at the top of the hour

  • Ex. 2 p.m. or 4:30 a.m., never 2:00 p.m. 

Refer to decades as the 2010s, not the 2010’s. In short form it’s the ’30s, not the 30s or 30’s. When writing about something that happened in the middle of the 1930s, use mid-1930s or shorten to mid-’30s. But a person who is 35 is in his/her mid-30s.

Money

Use even dollar amounts and add commas: $1,500, not $1500.

Write a compound adjective with a hyphen, as in a $20-million project. But write a project worth $20 million (no hyphen). Spell out $20 million rather than $20M, unless used in a headline.

Approximation

When approximating an amount of money, a number of people, etc., look to round up or down. Don’t write: The concert drew about 258 people. Here, 258 people is an exact number. Either delete “about” or round off. Write: The concert drew almost 260 people. Or: about 250 people.

Write “about” rather than the longer “approximately.

Phone Numbers

Write phone numbers and extensions as: 519-824-4120, Ext. 53864.