Numbering

[PepperNatty]

in an essay, should numbers be written out (one two three etc etc) or just numbers (1, 2, 3)? and does it change as numbers progress? i.e twenty or 20?

ty in advance

[Clanad]

Depending, somewhat, on how technical the essay is, I find it best to use written numbers, i.e., twenty per cent, followed by the number in numerics in parenthesis (20%). If the composition isn't technical in content them it's sufficient to use only the written form... Same applies to abreviated titles, such as (here in the U.S.) Federal Aviation Administration followed by the acronym in parenthesis (FAA) for its first entry. Only the acronym need be used anywhere following in the document.

Best of lusk!

[spaced]

depends what you are writing about. "one of the cars" shuld be just that and not "1 of the cars"

If you are talking about figures, for eg, "8 of the 30 cars were...", then you use numbers as its easier to make a comparison. Use number when comparing thus allwoing the reader to read and understand it better

[Clanad]

"luck", even...

[chazza]

We were always taught to write out the numbers one to nine as words and anything bigger than that, use figures

[Loosehead]

I was taught at school for English composition purposes that if the number can be written in one word then use the word, else use the figures. So 1-20 words else figures.

[Quizmonster]

The following is extracted from Hart's Rules, which is the authority according to Fowler's Modern English Usage as regards the writing of numbers...

"Numbers should be in words if less than 100 and if not within a specific reference, measurement, date, list or table or part of statistical data generally (e.g. the tenth century; a late-tenth-century manuscript; on twenty-six occasions). Otherwise they should be in figures."

So, page 26 is a specific reference...16 feet is a measurement...October 13th is a date...3 is the third heading in a list starting from 1...12 deaths in every 100 is statistical data and all of these should be in figures, not words. Otherwise, they should be written out as words as per the example, "on twenty-six occasions" suggested above.