Page 65 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

■ s304fozv = “ess three zero four eff oh zee vee”

4.9.8 SAYING PHONE NUMBERS

Unlike other countries, in the United States people tend to say phone numbers as

a series of single digits and not groupings of two or three digits, as shown in
section 4.9.7. However, especially for businesses, this is not always the case.

■ 1 (800) 555-8262 = one, eight hundred, five five five, eighty-two sixty-
■ two (212) 555-1010 = two one two, five five five, ten ten

4.9.9 WRITING AMOUNTS OF MONEY

Money isn’t very different from the previous guidelines (section 4.9, Numbers),

but there are a few places where you need to be alert to common mistakes.

■ Avoid indicating “dollars” or “cents” twice: Wrong: $1.2 million dollars,

$0.30 cents, 0.30¢
Right: $1.2 million, $0.30, 30 cents.

The word money is almost never plural in everyday English. Only in the
most technical financial situations, such as when discussing a corporation’s or a
government’s budget, is it used. For nearly all uses for most people, it should be

just money, even if you’re talking about more than one source or kind of money.

■ Bad: How many monies do you have? Lend me five bucks.

■ Good: How much money do you have? Lend me five bucks.