Numerals or words?

[jaF0]

I've read a few different opinions and 'rules' on which is right, but the only real consensus seems to be not to mix the two and not to start a sentence with a numeral.

So, for your own practices, do you type two or 2? Ten or 10?

Some say to use the words for single digit numbers, but numerals for two digit or above. I'm not sure using two and 10 in the same sentence is correct either though.

Of course there are exceptions when it comes to amounts and dates. 'I bought two for $10 each' or 'I sold four in 2016'. But then what about 'I bought 10 for two dollars each'?

Commence with the flogging.

 

[jaF0]

And what about time? Four AM, 4AM, 4:00 AM, 0400, or Zero four hundred?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

When a number begins a sentence, spell it.

 

[Handley_Page]

I've read a few different opinions and 'rules' on which is right, but the only real consensus seems to be not to mix the two and not to start a sentence with a numeral.

So, for your own practices, do you type two or 2? Ten or 10?

Some say to use the words for single digit numbers, but numerals for two digit or above. I'm not sure using two and 10 in the same sentence is correct either though.

Of course there are exceptions when it comes to amounts and dates. 'I bought two for $10 each' or 'I sold four in 2016'. But then what about 'I bought 10 for two dollars each'?

Commence with the flogging.

Generally speaking, if the figure is below 10, use words. Whether you use it may be sensitive to the context.

I'd elect for:-
'I bought ten for $2 each
A year number is always in figures.

And what about time? Four AM, 4AM, 4:00 AM, 0400, or Zero four hundred?

04.00 - yes
4 am - yes

but NOT 4.00 AM [or - worse - '04.00 in the morning']

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've read a few different opinions and 'rules' on which is right, but the only real consensus seems to be not to mix the two and not to start a sentence with a numeral.

So, for your own practices, do you type two or 2? Ten or 10?

Some say to use the words for single digit numbers, but numerals for two digit or above. I'm not sure using two and 10 in the same sentence is correct either though.

Most style guides I've seen put the breakpoint around ten or twelve, but prioritise internal consistency above that rule. e.g. you'd write "I saw three birds on Monday and two hundred on Thursday" rather than mix digits and numbers. I tend to follow that.

Technical material and measurements are often exceptions to the "spell small numbers" guidance. "Forensics found a single 9mm shell casing at the scene" would be my default, although sometimes spelling things out is good for emphasis or pacing.

If you have two different sets of numbers in the same sentence, using a different style for each set may be desirable: "I sold three size 2s and two size 3s".

 

[HandsInTheDark]

And what about time? Four AM, 4AM, 4:00 AM, 0400, or Zero four hundred?

4 AM in the US. In the more enlightened places where a 24 hour clock is used, 4.00 or 4:00 is unambiguously morning and 4 in the morning is redundant (and labels you as someone from a backwards country.) Military time (24 hour clock, sometimes based on UTC (do they still call it Zulu time?), usually expressed in hundreds) - move out at oh three thirty - can be written out longhand, but it can be written 0330 and be just as clear. (Or just as unclear; I know people who get completely confused by military time, even though it's about the most sensible thing our military has ever come up with.)

I tend to spell numbers out (four am) when someone is speaking. If the character is military or technical, you can make a quiet nod to that by using numbers, even when he speaks. As noted, there are exceptions for years, sizing (no one calls it a nine millimeter shell, it's 9mm, just as a bra is 32B), and often currency.

Ultimately I don't think this is an area where readers care too much. In technical material you type numbers, elsewhere go with what flows. "That will be 100$." strikes me as maybe ok. But if that's a horrifically high price, I could see "What? One hundred dollars? For a freaking lollipop?"

 

[jezzaz]

I follow the rules that *all* numbers are written out as words *except*, times, years, dates (and even then, I tend to do years as words), and a few, very specific places where I'll use numbers (trying to think where I do this but failing to come up with anything - I know I have though. Was it in costs?)

I find mixing it is bad news, because you'll never be consistent.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

4 AM in the US. In the more enlightened places where a 24 hour clock is used, 4.00 or 4:00 is unambiguously morning and 4 in the morning is redundant (and labels you as someone from a backwards country.) Military time (24 hour clock, sometimes based on UTC (do they still call it Zulu time?), usually expressed in hundreds) - move out at oh three thirty - can be written out longhand, but it can be written 0330 and be just as clear. (Or just as unclear; I know people who get completely confused by military time, even though it's about the most sensible thing our military has ever come up with.)

I tend to spell numbers out (four am) when someone is speaking. If the character is military or technical, you can make a quiet nod to that by using numbers, even when he speaks. As noted, there are exceptions for years, sizing (no one calls it a nine millimeter shell, it's 9mm, just as a bra is 32B), and often currency.

Ultimately I don't think this is an area where readers care too much. In technical material you type numbers, elsewhere go with what flows. "That will be 100$." strikes me as maybe ok. But if that's a horrifically high price, I could see "What? One hundred dollars? For a freaking lollipop?"

Actually the 24 hour clock is expressed as 0400 or zero-four hundred. No period, no colon. Well, at least in the military.

As for a 24 hour clock anywhere else in the world, just writing 4:00 means nothing. You still haven't delineated from am or pm. 04:00 would specify AM and 16:00 would be PM. The 24 hour clock is a four digit number. Where 00:00 is 12 midnight and 12:00 is 12 noon.

And 4 in the morning distinguishes it from 4 in the afternoon.

 

[sr71plt]

The guidance for rendering numbers in humanities prose (which includes fiction) is complex (e.g., time can be rendered several ways as long as it's consistent; percentages are in numbers; practically nothing else is). In almost all cases, it should be written out, though, so that's the safe guidance to assume until you want to get into the nitty gritty of examples.

 

[My I]

I tend to use words for quantities and numerals for measurements and larger numbers and money.

"None of the seven of them noticed the two 5 gallon gas cans just 12 feet away."

 

[Hypoxia]

As always, context rules. Write numbers as words in speech and narrative; as numerals in technical prose and date/time reports; and however something is witnessed, like a sign reading CENTURY XXI MORTGAGES.

Context? Consider telling of a folksong:

"He glanced at the lyric sheet, reading ON THE 14TH OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF '91 WE HAD A SHARP ENGAGEMENT DOWN AT FT JEFFERSON and sang: On the fourteenth of April in the year of ninety-one, we had a sharp engagement down at Fort Jefferson..."

We may witness numerals and abbreviations but we speak with words.