Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Friesen
Thanks for that interesting list. I agree mostly, but was taught that numbers up to ten should be in words and larger numbers should be digits and that double word numbers should be hyphenated. Blame my strict grammar teachers.
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All wrong in British English. See Chicago Style guide for USA. It totally depends on the KIND of numbers. Anything that could be non-sequential is digits (phone numbers, banking numbers, house numbers).
I have an exact list somewhere, but it may only fully apply in places that use British English. Some aspects of British English punctuation, grammar and spelling are more flexible than some online resources including Wikipedia suggest*. USA, especially Arts Courses, is generally more prescriptive. This difference dates to Webster USA (prescriptive) and the Oxford Dictionaries (GB then UK documents usage).
Most of English Grammar I was taught 11 to 16 approx at school was flawed and none of it covered dialogue in fiction. Totally erroneous information about commas that might only apply to a script!
* Outer Dialogue quotes are “and” in the USA and in Irish Language. UK/Irish publishers in English have a a house style of ‘and’ or “and” which may change per era. British English allows grey or gray unless the name is one of them. Dashes as parenthesis in the USA are usually em—and no space, but UK/Ireland can use – en dashes with spaces either side. Hyphens don't have spaces unless they are used as a minus (there is a separate minus character) or for a range, but 1914 to 1918 is preferred by some to 1914 - 1918, especially in mathematical and science works.
The USA might have #6 instead of British number 6 or No. 6, the # is never used that way in British English. You can have the sixth house on the left or 6 Duke Street, but not the 6th house on the left or six Duke Street. Many abbreviations common in casual writing are to be avoided in formal writing or novels. Journalists have to use the House style.
I've used Spelling and Grammar checkers since the early 1980s and to me it's one proof AI is SF. I turn auto-replace off on everything, turn off check grammar while you type and often have to click ignore. Grammar checkers don't know if "that that" is correct at times. They should suggest words that can be doubled differently. Word processers often get a leading omission wrong like “back in the ’80s” or ’tis. Also they put ’ and ” for feet and inches or minutes and seconds. Those use a prime and double prime. Straight quotes
" and
' with italics are a simulation.
Undo or a saved copy is your friend with automated correction tools!