Correct way to express numbers

[SydneyBlake]

I don't recall ever seeing a football jersey with the number written out on the back of it, though.

Ocho-Cinco.

Haha that was too easy.

The numbers, to my horror, were all over the place.

 

[palisa]

Okay, another numbers question. Would you write "room 10" or "room ten"? As in a hotel room number or office number. Thx.

This is a good example of how different style authorities can be, and the advantage of choosing one and sticking with it.

CMS would use "room ten" (sr's comment and my preference notwithstanding, CMS 9 doesn't seem to make an exception for numerals in room numbers. CMS 8.57, which sr cited, gives as an example "room 421," but that's a number over one hundred. Its general rule is to use numerals for 100 and up except for "certain round multiples of those numbers."

APA would use "room 10" because its rule is to spell out numbers less than 10 and use numerals for others (with lots of exceptions, just like the other styles).

MLA would use "room ten" for a different reason: its rule is to spell out all numbers that can be expressed in one or two words, and use numerals for numbers that require three or more words.

The New York Times agrees with the APA on the general rule, but would use "Room 10." I agree with this, personally, because I would consider the term a proper noun.

Multiply this by all the different things where reasonable people could differ, and it gets confusing. I've got jobs now that use different styles, and keeping them straight is quite a chore.

Why use any style authority? This is a strange analogy, I know, but it's like religion in a way. If you don't want to join a church but you want to be devout and knowledgeable, you have to develop your own theology and think through hundreds or thousands of ramifications of what you believe in. A church has already done that for you. Even a casual writer should be consistent, and it's easier to thumb through a style manual than to scribble down notes to yourself for future use every time you need to write something that can be written in several different ways. If you're inconsistent, readers are going to notice it. It's like somebody kicking your seat back once in a while when you're trying to read on a plane.

I would recommend the Chicago Manual of Style as a reference, not because it's used by many fiction publishers but because the book itself is much more comprehensive than those of the APA and MLA. It's a pretty good grammar and punctuation tutor, has an extensive section of problem words, and goes into detail on preparing manuscripts for books, journal articles and other papers.

 

[sr71plt]

This is a good example of how different style authorities can be, and the advantage of choosing one and sticking with it.

CMS would use "room ten" (sr's comment and my preference notwithstanding, CMS 9 doesn't seem to make an exception for numerals in room numbers. CMS 8.57, which sr cited, gives as an example "room 421," but that's a number over one hundred. Its general rule is to use numerals for 100 and up except for "certain round multiples of those numbers."

As I have already noted, CMS gives an out for this--and it's regularly used. Syd gave two very good examples for that--a football player's jersey number and the score of an athletic game. 9.13: "It is occasionally acceptable to depart from the general rule for certain types of quantities that are commonly (or more conveniently) expressed as numerals."

Room 10 comes under this. In life, hotel room numbers are most commonly rendered as numerals, so CMS can, in fact, (and usually is) be invoked (9.13) to support using the numeral in text. Sometimes hotels write the number out on the door (but not often), so if an author wants to do that, it's fine too. Consistency is the main guidance invoked here.

CMS is a not a problem because it's too restrictive--often it doesn't seem restrictive enough when someone just wants to know "how to do it right."

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Okay, another numbers question. Would you write "room 10" or "room ten"? As in a hotel room number or office number. Thx.

The difference in my mind is if you are writing narrative or dialogue. A person would speak, "Room one ten" while in the narrative a writer would likely write room 110.

Just my thought.

 

[palisa]

The difference in my mind is if you are writing narrative or dialogue. A person would speak, "Room one ten" while in the narrative a writer would likely write room 110.

Just my thought.

That's ok...and a radio or tv scriptwriter usually spells out everything because it's to be spoken. But you either need a limit in dialogue or you'll find yourself putting a line-and-a-half number in a story.

 

[sr71plt]

That's ok...and a radio or tv scriptwriter usually spells out everything because it's to be spoken. But you either need a limit in dialogue or you'll find yourself putting a line-and-a-half number in a story.

Actually, whether or not the number is in dialogue has nothing to do with how you should render it.

 

[palisa]

Actually, whether or not the number is in dialogue has nothing to do with how you should render it.

Gee, really? Thanks for the clarification!

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

The difference in my mind is if you are writing narrative or dialogue. A person would speak, "Room one ten" while in the narrative a writer would likely write room 110.

I agree, because I would read 115 as a hundred and fifteen whereas the bell captain would actually say "one one five".

 

[PennLady]

I agree, because I would read 115 as a hundred and fifteen whereas the bell captain would actually say "one one five".

Well that would depend on context. If "115" was a hotel room, or a house address, I'd read it as "one-fifteen." If it was a total of items in a box or something like that, I'd read "one hundred and fifteen." I suppose a porter or bellhop might say one-one-five.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... I suppose a porter or bellhop might say one-one-five.

Yes - they are trained to do that in the larger hotels so that 115 (one-fifteen) is not mis-heard as 150 (one-fifty).