# Do you "spell out" written numbers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557 "2007-11-15T17:07:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/1 "2007-11-15T17:07:10Z")
The general rule is that numbers smaller than ten are supposed to be spelled out. I follow it … hell, I spell them out all the way up to nineteen and I also type out numbers less than 101 which are divisible by ten (twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, a hundred). I don’t usually do a hyphenated spelling of in-between numbers though (e.g. thirty-one, fifty-two, ninety-seven) unless I’m required to be “consistent” and not switch to numerals, which is quite rare. I guess my real question is for the numbers past ten and the big ones from twenty to a hundred. Do you spell 'em out? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/2 "2007-11-15T17:11:00Z")
Sometimes. I haven’t really figured out a rhyme or reason for why I spell them out sometimes and why I don’t others. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/3 "2007-11-15T17:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=anamnesis] The general rule is that numbers smaller than ten are supposed to be spelled out. I follow it … hell, I spell them out all the way up to nineteen and I also type out numbers less than 101 which are divisible by ten (twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, a hundred). I don’t usually do a hyphenated spelling of in-between numbers though (e.g. thirty-one, fifty-two, ninety-seven) unless I’m required to be “consistent” and not switch to numerals, which is quite rare. I guess my real question is for the numbers past ten and the big ones from twenty to a hundred. Do you spell 'em out? [/QUOTE] That general rule was drilled into me as well as a kid, so I follow it. But in what medium? If I’m writing a proposal, or letter, yes. But if it’s an email or IM, then it’s whatever my hands automatically do (meaning, sometimes it’s easier to type “one” than look for the “1” on the keyboard, but other times I’ll do the numeral). Texting, almost always the numeral. Edit to answer the actual question - 90% of the time I’ll use the numeral for anything above ten, but again, since I type fairly quickly it’s sometimes easier to just spell the damn thing out ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/4 "2007-11-15T17:32:45Z")
In my job, the rule is to spell out numbers less than 10 _if counting_, but not if used as units of measurement. So: eight widgets; but 8 feet long. The exception when counting comes when a series of numbers is being used and at least one is numerated. In that case, use numbers for all. So: 12 grommits, 16 luggits; and 8 widgets. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/5 "2007-11-15T17:56:16Z")
I always use the numerals for numbers greater than or equal to 10 because that’s what got drilled into me at some point. I always spell out numbers less than ten if the writing is formal, but it can be hit-or-miss in informal communication. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/6 "2007-11-15T18:02:54Z")
I was always told less than 100 you type/write them out, not less than ten. Anyone else learn it this way? ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/7 "2007-11-15T18:12:07Z")
Definitely 10, in my experience. But, what about two numbers, one less than 10 and the other more than 10, in the same sentence? e.g. [A company rep said they would be opening] 18 offices in five provinces. or - eighteen offices in five provinces. or - 18 offices in 5 provinces. ? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/8 "2007-11-15T18:33:53Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] I was always told less than 100 you type/write them out, not less than ten. Anyone else learn it this way? [/QUOTE] This is what I was taught in school. I doubt I’m at all consistent about it. Probably depends on context. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/9 "2007-11-15T18:36:58Z")
It’s also a good idea to spell out the number if it starts the sentence: _Fifteen birds in five fir trees…_ ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/10 "2007-11-15T22:39:51Z")
Here are my rules: [ol] [li]Spell out single-word numbers (and hyphenated doesn’t count as single-word): “eighty”, but “79”.[/li][li]If two numbers in a sentence are measuring the same thing and come down on opposite sides of the rule, don’t spell either one. However, if they’re measuring different things, that’s OK: “79 out of 80 locations”, but “79 locations in six months”.[/li]If a sentence would begin with an unspelled number, re-phrase the sentence![/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/11 "2007-11-15T23:01:43Z")
My ninth-grade English teacher informed the class that the rules of formal composition dictated that any unhyphenated one-word numbers were written out (_one_, _ten_, _sixty_, etc.) Hyphenated numbers were written as numerals (_27_ instead of _twenty-seven_), as were more complex combinations (_654_ rather than _six hundred and fifty-four_). Two-separate-word numbers “should” be written out, but “don’t have to be” (_six hundred_ was preferable, but _600_ would not be marked “incorrect”). However, if you were directly quoting a written passage, you should copy the author’s style even if it broke any of these rules. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/12 "2007-11-15T23:01:47Z")
I spell 'em out when writing radio copy(part of my job). They’re like Chinese…a couple of symbols can represent many syllables. If you have a lot of numbers in the script it’ll mess you up every time. You’ll run over the 30 or 60 seconds allotted. ---
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/13 "2007-11-15T23:14:44Z")
**Tool of the Conspiracy** and **Sternvogel** : you just nailed all my rules! I guess I could’ve laid them out like that in the OP, but it wouldn’t have opened the discussion up as much. Thanks for putting them a lot more succinctly than I did. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/14 "2007-11-16T01:32:37Z")
Chicago style: [Page Not Found](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Numbers/Numbers07.html) I was looking this up recently because I wasn’t sure if I should spell out or write out 2500 in my political science paper. It’s a round number so it obviously should be spelled out, which then makes me wonder: how does one spell out 2500? twenty-five hundred? two thousand five hundred? two thousand, five hundred? Bah. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/15 "2007-11-16T08:08:36Z")
Grr… my phone has some really annoying texting features, and one of them is that the only way to get 0 is to go to switch to number mode. Of course, you can’t type any kind of punctuation (say, a colon) in number mode. So I usually end up writing out numbers longhand in text messages. It’s faster than switching through the modes and getting the stupid capitalization to work properly again. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-spell-out-written-numbers/426557/16 "2007-11-16T08:13:07Z")
According to the Australian newspaper style manuals I’m familiar with, numbers up to and including a hundred are written in words, and so are other “obvious” ones: One Thirteen Sixty-seven Ninety-nine A hundred 114 346 768 A thousand 192 400 A million 1.6 million Three million