Only seven people showed up for the reading, despite the 165 invitations that were sent.Round multiples of numbers in the target range should generally be spelled out too. For instance, you’d write:
eleven hundred booksbut use numerals for these more precise values:
forty million trees
375,247 registered votersA combination of both styles would be appropriate for cases that straddle the fence:
201,958,386 possible permutations
674 million light-yearsYears, phone numbers, addresses, and the like should be written with numerals, as you say, though how to render time and money probably depends on the context. On the one hand, I might write:
200 billion people
Molly, running late, wasn’t sure she’d make it by one-thirty. She decided it was worth ten dollars to grab a cab.But I might equally well write:
At precisely 10:17 a.m., Molly settled her bill and left the diner. She tucked the $13.63 receipt into a pocket of her bag. Jack would damn well reimburse her.One exception to these guidelines comes when a number falls at the beginning of a sentence. In this case, for the sake of readability, the general rule is to spell the number out, even if it’s a date:
He tasted the wine and nodded. Nineteen sixty-seven was a very good year, he decided.If that seems too awkward, rewrite the sentence so the number doesn’t come first:
He decided 1967 was a very good year.Another exception comes in dialog, where all numbers are generally spelled out:
Molly told the cabbie, “Take me to Forty-second Street.”Contrast that with the same information written in narrative text:
Molly told the cabbie to take her to 42nd Street.Still, there are exceptions even to this exception. Years, phone numbers, and names that include numbers are usually written with numerals in dialog, for the sake of clarity:
“I’ve been at 3M since 1986,” he said.To sum up, I’d tell you to apply these suggestions as consistently as you can, but also to let your sense of what’s most appropriate for the context guide your choices. I wouldn’t agonize too much over whether or not you’re doing things “right.” Unless your work is littered with numbers, this is probably not an issue that’s going to mean the difference between acceptance and rejection. Your job is to use good sense and smooth the way for your eventual editors, not necessarily to be perfect. Still, if you’re deeply concerned about the topic and you have access to The Chicago Manual of Style, you might want to consult the chapter on numbers. It goes deep into the weeds on most every strange situation you might encounter. On this topic, however, even that great resource admits, “Sometimes the goal of consistency must give way to readability” (CMOS 17, 9.1).]]>
“That sounds better than 7-Eleven.”
“I wouldn’t know. So, do you prefer 50 Cent or Andre 3000?”
I'm finalizing a manuscript and your templates are so helpful. One thing I can't seem to find addressed is the use of quotes - a poem or just a quotation from a person, at the beginning of a chapter. Since I would like to have one in my first chapter and it would then be the first thing an agent sees, I am worried about how to do it right. Can you help?All you need to do is indent the quote one half inch from both the left and the right margin and put a line space after it. You can single-space the quote if you like. Otherwise, everything else is the same. You still start the quote on the same line of the page where you otherwise would have begun the chapter.]]>