# number/word rule: 4 or four...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 17, 2000, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511 "2000-02-17T06:38:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511/21 "2000-02-18T14:53:00Z")

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The AP Style manual I used on my college newspaper recommended spelling out numbers zero through ten, and then using the cardinal digits after that. The only exception was if the number was the first word of a sentence, ie:

“Twenty-seven people were killed in a gruesome sandwich mishap on campus yesterday.”

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**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511/22 "2000-02-18T15:18:00Z")

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Sorry, Phouka, but AP Style’s rule for numerals says ten should be 10.

I know this because it’s always bugged me. It’s only three letters long. Why didn’t they start the numerals for numbers on 11? One of life’s great mysteries.

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“You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511/23 "2000-02-19T00:47:00Z")

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As long as the message gets across…

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**Author:** ![InkBlot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InkBlot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InkBlot)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-word-rule-4-or-four/7511/24 "2000-02-19T00:58:00Z")

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Another consideration is your intended audience. Having recently written my own wedding invitations, I now know formal documents spell out all numbers, including years. In that vein, numbers for months, days and years are not capitalized. So February eighteenth, two-thousand might appear on someone’s wedding invite, diploma, who knows? Maybe even an arrest record.

inkblot

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“Stercus, stercus, stercus, moritus sum!”

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