Spell Or Use Numbers When You Write

Most writers—including me—like to write for three reasons: We’re creative, we love to read and because we hate working with numbers. Eventually we find out that even in writing, numbers find a way to sneak into our work.

There are several rules of thought on how to handle writing numbers, but the most common is pretty simple. Spell out numbers under 10 (zero through nine), and use numeric symbols for 10 and up. I brought two puppies home from the pound.  During my lifetime I have adopted 12 dogs.

Of course since we are using the English language, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, spell out all numbers that begin a sentence. Twenty-two thousand people were killed in automobile accidents in 2001. Most of us don'e feel like writing such long numbers, and readers don't enjoy reading them, either. Better to write: Automobile accidents took the lives of 22,200 people in 2001.

Another exception is calendar years. Always use numerals when writing them even at the front of a sentence. 1997 was the year I was born. Another instance where rule #1 doesn’t apply is when writing peoples’ ages. (“She is only 4 years old”). Also when writing dates (December 25), cash ($5), percentages (25 percent) and ratios (100-to-1).

Let's say you want  to include the numbers four and ten in the same sentence. Normally you would write out the word "four" in: "Gary graduated from high school in four years." When adding a number that needs to be expressed as a numeral, use numerals for both: "Gary graduated from high school in 4 years, but it took him 10 years to graduate from college and med school."

Now, even though you might never have been a math whiz, you can be an expert at using numbers in your writing.