Page 7 - Style Book 2020

• Always use figures.
A child must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 to
enter kindergarten.
Vocational programs are available for adults 16 years of age or older.
Decades and centuries
• Use figures to indicate decades of history, and use an apostrophe to indicate numbers that are left out. Add the letter s for plurals, but do not precede it with a comma.
One of Edgewood’s eighth-grade teams participated in ‘60s Day.
The media center was set up like a living room in the 1940s.
6
• In a series, spell out numbers less than 10.
When numbers are in a list it is best to keep all numbers
consistent, even if numbers are under 10.
The kindergarten students take care of four rabbits, six birds, 12 turtles and 23 tropical fish.
• Use numbers for ratios and measurements. The ratio of boys to girls is 3 to 2.
• Express percentages in figures, unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence.
More than 83 percent of the parents who responded to the survey gave their child’s school an overall grade of A or B.
Always spell out percent in a narrative. The % sign may be used in charts and graphs.
Money
• Amounts of money should be written with numbers and a
$ sign in all except casual references. For amounts under $1, use the word cents. For amounts more than $1,000,
use commas but no decimals.
Room numbers
• Use figures and capitalize room when used with a figure. The teachers will meet in Room 4 after school.
Dates and years
• Do not use a comma between the month and year. January 2000
• Use numbers with st, rd, nd or th only if the day precedes the month or the month is not mentioned.
June 1 is the target date.
We saw him on the 8th of March.
Paychecks will be distributed on the 8th and the 22nd.
Times
• Except for noon or midnight, use numbers with a.m., p.m. or o’clock. Avoid redundancies such as 9 a.m. Wednesday morn- ing, 12 noon, etc. Zeros are not needed when an even hour (as 11 a.m.) is being expressed.
Lunch will be served beginning at noon. The keynote address will end at 3:30 p.m. The workshop begins at 9 a.m.
Fractions
• Spell out amounts less than one, and use hyphens between the words.
one-half three-fourths
The books cost $4 each.
The district has a $365 million general fund.
Our goal is to raise $1,500 for new computer software.
Please give me a dollar for a ticket. (casual reference) Red chalk is available for 15 cents.
The tickets were $1.06 each with tax.
Ages