Which Is Correct English?

[TCH-Thomas]

The other day i emailed my sister a text which included numbers.

She said that in correct english, 1 to 12 is typed with letters not numbers.

So it would be: One, Two, Three...Twelve, 13, 14, 15...and so on?

Is that correct?

Edited June 15, 2004 by Jikrantz

[jandafields]

I found these rules on the Internet:

 

Numbers: Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence. Spell out numbers one through nine (10 and up are always used as numerals) unless they are used as units of measures (e.g., eight children, three dogs, 8 g, 3 ft., 0600 hours; not 8 children, 3 dogs, eight grams, three feet, or six o’clock am.)

 

Zeros: All numbers < 1 must be preceded by a zero (e.g. P < 0.05); 0.1 gram was added.

 

Commas: When a number is > 1,000 use a comma to separate hundreds from thousands.

 

Repeating symbols: It is not necessary to repeat symbols or units of measure in a series (e.g. 30, 40, 50m or 30, 40, 50%; not 30m, 40m, 50m or 30%, 40%, 50%).

 

Reference:

http://www.uckac.edu/ppq/PDF/author_instructions.pdf

[boxturt]

I always wondered about that..........

[Boojum]

Numbers: Spell out numbers one through nine (10 and up are always used as numerals) unless they are used as units of measures (e.g., eight children, three dogs, 8 g, 3 ft., 0600 hours; not 8 children, 3 dogs, eight grams, three feet, or six o’clock am.)

Please note that the application of the rules cited varies with context.

 

Most of these rules are in accordance with the Associated Press and other style guides written for newspapers and other periodicals, but in literary usage you will find, for example, eight grams, three feet and six o'clock (although not with a.m.). You will also find numbers greater than 10 written out.

 

In general, e-mail is in something of a gray area. It is neither literary nor journalistic, so it is not possible to apply cut-and-dried formulas. Some e-mailers will spell out "ninety-seven," others will write "97," others will vacillate and use both at different times, and still others can't count to 97.

 

In answer to Jikrantz's question, however, to the extent that English does formulate a general distinction, it is as quoted: Numbers one through nine are almost always written out, and those 10 and above more frequently appear as numerals.

[bellringr]

I remember in Jr. High we were told one through ten should be spelled out and for anything above that, figures should be used. That's what the Gregg Reference Manual has as well for the general rule of thumb (the REAL rules your teacher taught you as opposed to the AP rules some uneducated journalists decided to make "law" because they had no english skills to begin with Yeah, I'm sure I'll take some flak for that. heh)

 

However, there are exceptions, and different rules for specific situations that you probably don't care about (and most people don't know about anyway) so I doubt they're worth the bother.

[Deverill]

The Chicago Manual of Style is preferred for many publishing houses as the authority on these types of issues. In there it says:

 

Several factors work together to govern the choice between spelling out and using numerals for any particular number.  Among them are whether the number is large or small, whether it is an approximation or an exact quantity, what kind of entity it enumerates, and what kind of text it appears in -- scientific or technological on the one hand, humanistic on the other

(mistakes above are mine.)

 

They go on to say that almost everything should be spelled out including large numbers.

 

After this is nine pages of "special cases" covering scientific usage, abbreviations, symbols, percentages, currencies, dates, time, vehicles, etc.

 

Regarding definitive sources - The Gregg Reference Manual is basically evolved from a work for secretaries. The AP manual and the Chicago Manual of Style are made by those who write (create / compose) for a living. Choose the source you wish but 99.99% of Americans just have an intuitive understanding of the rules and wing it.