Examples for using numbers in writing

1. Hard & Fast Rules
for Using
Numbers

2. Examples
1. Spell out all numbers one – twenty and all
multiples of ten
use numbers for 21 and higher (except
multiples of ten under 100)
** any number that is only one word must
be written out
My first airplane ride; the fifth house; the
22nd state

3. Examples
2. Correct: The number of people injured is
681.
Wrong: 681 people were injured.
Wrong: Six hundred eighty-one people
were injured.
3. Twentieth century (not 20th Century)
the nineties (not the 90s)
1987 (not nineteen eighty seven)

4. Examples
4. Four inches; 22 inches (follows rule #1)
fifteen percent; 85 percent
5. I babysat 3 two-year olds.
The store had 25 thirty-two inch
televisions.

5. Examples
6. Correct: I have 23 volleyballs and only 6
basketballs.
Wrong: I have 23 volleyballs and only six
basketballs.

6. Practice
1. Many wars took place during the 20th
century.
twentieth (Rule 3)
2. Last year, 8% of students were more than
6 ft. tall.
eight percent: six feet tall (Rules 1,4)
3. 102 girls signed up for cheer camp.
The number of girls who signed up for
cheer camp is 102. (Rule 2)

7. Practice
4. Only ten students passed the test while 41
students failed.
forty-one (Rule 6)
5. There are 30 20-in. monitors in the
computer lab.
thirty; inch (Rules 4 & 5)
6. I counted to see that I was the fifty-eighth
person on the list.
58th (Rule 1)