SECTION –II

BUSINESS AND LEGAL WRITING SKILLS

Parallelism: Use of parallel constructions

Parallelism is a device used to make moments in literature memorable and alluring.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ is a memorable speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream
today…

While we may not have memorized the entire speech, we do know some of it. The speech’s
success is due to King’s fantastic use of parallelism.

Parallel structure or parallelism is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a

sentence. It is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in
their construction sound, meaning, pattern or rhythm. By making each compared item or idea in
your sentence follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction.

Parallel structure adds clout and clarity to writing. Parallel structure, increases the
readability of your writing by creating word patterns readers can follow easily.

Parallel structure provides balance and clarity to writing. It can also be used as an
effective technique to highlight important information or emphasize powerful points in
writing.

Parallelism has the ability to persuade. Its repetitive quality makes the sentence
symmetrical and therefore memorable for the reader. It makes the idea easier for readers to
process.

A popular example is the famous translated line from Julius Caesar- ‘I came, I saw, I
conquered.’

The sentence construction is being repeated. Each phrase begins with ‘I’ plus a verb. It not only
sounds appealing, but the repetition makes the quote stand out in the reader’s mine.

Lack of parallel structure can disrupt the rhythm of a sentence, leaving it grammatically
unbalanced. Proper parallel structure helps to establish balance and flow in a well-constructed
sentence; the alignment of related ideas supports readability and clarity. It also adds value to a
writer's overall composition and shows that their writing is structurally and grammatically
correct.
Let’s look at an example:

Not Parallel: The President traveled to several cities meeting voters, to give speeches,
and ask for campaign funds.

Parallel: The President traveled to several cities meeting voters, giving speeches,
and asking for campaign funds.

Example:

Not Parallel: Ellen likes hiking, attend the rodeo, and to take afternoon naps.

Parallel: Ellen likes hiking, attending the rodeo, and taking afternoon naps.

OR Ellen likes to hike, attend the rodeo, and take afternoon naps.

How can a sentence be revised to reflect parallel structure?

[Link] a list within a sentence: Look for words or phrases of equal importance that are
separated by commas and joined by a conjunction
Not parallel: Dr. Kall challenged his students to initiate their own learning, be creative
problem-solvers, and think independently.
(In this sentence, Dr. Kall wants his students to do or be three things, but the items in this list
are not parallel in structure.)
2. Evaluate the word forms within the list.
1. Do the verbs appear as infinitives (to + verb), or gerunds (-ing words)? As present tense or
past tense? (Choose the voice and tense of the verb that is consistent with surrounding
sentences.)
2. Do the nouns or pronouns and their modifiers appear in consistent form?
3. Alter the words in the list to create proper parallel structure.
Parallel: Dr. Kall challenged his students to become self-motivated learners, creative problem-
solvers, and independent thinkers.
(In this sentence, Dr. Kall wants his students to be three things instead of a combination of
being and doing. Additionally, the list follows a pattern since the nouns and adjectives all
appear in parallel form.)

Relative Pronoun – Fixing Remote Relative Pronoun

A relative pronoun introduces dependent or relative clauses in sentences. The relative
pronouns mostly used are: who, whoever, whom, whomever, that, which, when, what, where,
and whose.
Why Are Relative Pronouns Important?
Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses - which is a group of words that has both a subject
and a verb and modifies a noun in a sentence. Without the relative pronoun, the relative clause
would not exist. In fact, the relative pronoun is a 'clue' word to let us know that the relative
clause is beginning.

Examples of Relative Pronouns in Sentences

Here is an example of how relative pronouns are used in sentences. Let's start with a simple
sentence:
The fly landed.
Now let's build it up with a relative clause:
The fly that had been buzzing around Sam's head landed on the cake.
In this case, the relative pronoun that introduces the relative clause that had been buzzing
around Sam's head. At first, we only knew that a fly landed. Now, by adding the relative clause,
we have more information about the fly. The whole clause that had been buzzing around Sam's
head modifies the noun and subject, fly.
Let's try another:
The girl whose leg was bruised in the soccer game is my sister.
The subject of this sentence is the word girl. We know that the word whose is a relative
pronoun. It introduces the relative clause whose leg was bruised in the soccer game. This
relative clause modifies the subject, girl.
Every relative pronoun, instantly presents its antecedent (predecessor) to the reader,
without least doubt.

Remote Relative Pronoun: is a pronoun that is positioned too far away from its antecedent.
The separation of the relative pronoun -- that, which, who -- from its antecedent.

For example, in the sentence “The files in the office that I was talking about yesterday are in
disarray,” the word that—technically—modifies office, not files. But many writers today
would intend to have it modify files. They would loosely employ a 'remote relative.'”

Reason for fixing remote relative pronouns: When we use relative pronouns remotely they
are likely to cause confusion.

So, fix every remote relative pronoun – ensure that, ‘that or which’ immediately follows the
antecedent.
17 November 2020
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

A sign is a form of language in its own right and it is specifically meant to communicate certain
information. Signs are usually informative, regulatory, warning
or prohibitory. A sign is mandatory to follow since it is
communicating vital information. For example, when driving a
red traffic light tells you to stop, similarly DO NOT ENTER
sign or DO NOT PARK or HANDICAP parking etc.
Many signs often have a universal meaning that is shared by
people from various backgrounds.

Symbol is a form of a sign that may have deep meaning. It can

be interpreted in different ways since its meaning may not be
universally shared by different people.

Sign Symbol

A sign is a form of language that A symbol represents something that

is descriptive in nature. ex. Road is accepted by certain subjective
signs ( DO NOT ENTER) areas.
For Example: A symbol could be a
letter or letters standing for a
chemical element or a character
in musical notation.
Symbol for a religious cults or
groups.

A sign could stand for something Symbols target certain group of

and it may be mandatory to be people. It may be interpreted
followed. differently by different people.

Sign and a symbol are not synonymous. The main difference between the two is that a sign is a
form of language that directly communicates with the targeted audience. Sign could also mean a
usage of gestures to convey information or instructions.

In contrast, a symbol is a conventional representation of an object, function, or process. It is a

form of a sign that may have deep meaning. It can be interpreted in different ways since
its meaning may not be universally shared by different people.

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing

an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by
creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences.
All communication (and data processing) is achieved through the use of symbols. Symbols take
the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas, or visual images and are used to convey other ideas
and beliefs. For example, a red octagon is a common symbol for "STOP"; on maps, blue lines
often represent rivers; and a red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are
symbols for numbers; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes; and
personal names are symbols representing individuals. The variable 'x', in a
mathematical equation, may symbolize the position of a particle in space. The academic study
of symbols is semiotics.

Thus, Symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of
meaning. It is the basis of all human understanding and serves as vehicles of conception for all
human knowledge. It facilitates understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the
grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make
sense of the world around them, but also to identify and cooperate in society
through constitutive rhetoric.

Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to
represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's
cultural background; in other words, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol
itself but is culturally learned.

Some of the legal symbols used by the law firms are

Symbol Used for

§ Section (Silcrow)

§§ Sections

¶ Paragraph (Pilcrow)

© Copyright
Symbol Used for

® Registered Trademark

™ Trademark

— Em Dash

– En Dash

Ππ∏ Plaintiff (Pi)

Δ Defendant (Delta)

& Ampersand (and)

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a written word or phrase. Abbreviations may be used

to save space and time, to avoid repetition of long words and phrases, or simply to conform
to conventional usage.

Abbreviations may be nearly as old as writing itself; they allow a writer to save time, space
and effort. The cost of materials like parchment, paper and ink was another major impetus to
shorten words and phrases. Even with the invention of the printing press, cost remained
important, and printers looked for ways to save space without diluting the message. Many
abbreviations have become standard, including abbreviations for days of the week (Mon.,
Tue./Tues) and months of the year (Jan., Feb.); common Latin terms(lb., e.g.); units of time
and measurement (min. for minute and ft. for foot); titles of individuals (Mr., Mrs., Rev.);
titles or names of organizations (UNESCO, SAARC); government bodies (SCOTUS for
Supreme Court of the United States, PWD, KHS); states and cities (Pa. for Pennsylvania,
NYC)
The styling of abbreviations is inconsistent and arbitrary and includes many possible
variations.

1. Abbreviations of single words are typically formed using the first letter or letters of the
word.
n. for noun
v. for verb
adj. adjective
Oct. for October
univ. for university,

Such abbreviations usually end in a period.

The usual practice in American English is to use a period to end any abbreviation that
stands for a single word. Example: assoc./assn. for association) whereas in British
English the period is omitted if the abbreviation includes the last letter of the word.
Example: association can be abbreviated as assoc. or assn. (without period), fr is an
abbreviation for France (no period) while Fr. is the abbreviation for Father (title for
a priest).

2. Phrases are abbreviated by using the first letters or initial portions of each word or
each important word, usually without any periods. The ordinary abbreviation for
single words is almost always read as the word is spelled out - Dr. as doctor, lb as
pound.

Abbreviations consisting of initials are usually read as written -- either letter by letter
or as a single word. An abbreviation that is pronounced letter by letter, like FBI for
Federal Bureau of investigation, PWD for Public Words Department is referred to
as Initialism.

Many abbreviations for phrase are pronounced as words: for example, NATO for
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This type of abbreviation is called an Acronym.

Some acronyms like radar (Radio Detecting and Ranging), laser (Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation), scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus) etc. have become so accepted as normal words that most people are unaware
of their acronymic origins. In many cases an official name may be chosen purely to create
an appropriate and catchy acronym, as the CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness
Mitigation Act) Act of 2010.
 In an informal sense/loose sense, initialism can refer to any abbreviation composed of
initials, even if pronounced as a word and acronym to refer to any abbreviation, even if it
pronounced letter by letter.

The distinction between true acronyms (pronounced as word) and pure initialisms (said
letter by letter) is a useful one.

With increasing popularity of email, text messaging and social media especially the young
people have found new ways to save time and space through the use of in-group jargons and
keep their communication opaque to the prying parental eyes, by using initialism for common
expressions —the most popular among them are: OMG – oh my God, BTW – by the way,
TTYL – talk to you later, bff – best friends forever.

Ways to Abbreviate while Note Taking

One of the most difficult aspects of taking notes during lectures is that you cannot listen and
write at the same time. When you stop to write down an idea, you might miss something else
which is important. This means you need to find a way to write down the main ideas as quickly
as possible, so that you can maximise the amount of time, you spend on listening. This is where
symbols and abbreviations are of help.

Ways to abbreviate words

Almost any word can be shortened during note-taking. Below are some ideas about
how to do this.

Use the beginnings of words

One way to shorten a word is to use just the beginning of the word, for example:
 pol - politics
 subj - subject
 info - information
 intro – introduction

Use the beginnings of words with the final letter

Sometimes it can be useful to add the final letter of the word. Some people prefer to
also add an apostrophe ('), others don't. For example:
 govt - government
 interl - international
Omit vowels
Sometimes you might need to write out the whole word, but even so, you can
probably leave out the vowels and still understand the word, for example:
 prblm - problem
 schl - school
 bkgd - background

Abbreviate -ing
The ending -ing is very common, so find a way to abbreviate it, for example:
 ckg - checking
 ckng - checking

Abbreviate specific words from the lecture

If there are words which are commonly used in a particular lecture you are listening
to, you should try to abbreviate them. For example, in a lecture about acid rain, the
speaker might frequently talk about sulphur, nitrogen, pollution, factories. The
following abbreviations could be used:
 AR - acid rain
 S - sulphur
 N - nitrogen
 pol - pollution

Common symbols & abbreviations

There are many common abbreviations and symbols which you can use for note-taking. You
probably already know many of these (especially the mathematical symbols), but perhaps had
not thought about using them before. Try to learn some of these and start using them when you
take notes.

SYMBOLS ABBREVIATIONS
Symbol Meaning
Abbrev Meaning

leads to, causes (showing

→
result) e.g. for example

caused by, because of (showing i.e. that is

←
reason)

etc. etcetera, and so on

↑ increase, more, go up, up

C century, e.g. C20: 20th century

↓ decrease, less, go down, down

approx approximate(ly) (see symbol)

= equal to, is, are

diff difference, different, difficult,

 not equal to, is not, are not, is difficulty
≠
the opposite of

imp important, importance

≈ approximately

lang language
> greater than

max maximum
>> much greater than

min minimum
< less than

1st first (similarly 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)

∴ therefore

United Kingdom (similarly US

∵ because UK for America(n), Aus for
Australia(n), Eur for Europe(an))

″″ ditto (same as above)

Q question

&+ and
A answer

# number
no. number (see also # symbol)

$ money
poss possible, possibly

@ at
prob problem, probable, probably

′ minutes/feet
sts students

″ seconds/inches
v very

♂ man, men, male

w/ with

♀ woman, women, female

w/o without
Sexist Language

What is sexist language? It is inherently discriminatory language, either written or spoken, that
implies an unjustified sexual bias against a group or an individual, usually women, but
sometimes men.

Sexist language is language which excludes one sex or the other, or which suggests that one sex
is superior to the other. For example, traditionally, he, him and his were used to refer to both
sexes, male and female, but nowadays many people feel that this makes she, her and hers seem
less important or inferior. It is best to avoid sexist language in order not to offend people.

Gender Bias

Underlying sexist language is gender bias, which can occur consciously or unconsciously.
When unconscious, the gender bias in language can be considered to be the product of society:
other people use sexist language, and repetition normalizes it until the speaker unconsciously
produces his or her own sexist language where men are the norm and women the "other”.

Reasons to Avoid Sexist Language

Not only does sexist language lead to discriminatory ideas about certain occupations, it can also
be a barrier to effective communication.

Perpetuating (continuous) Job Role Stereotypes

Sexist language encourages discrimination and can discourage people from pursuing their
dreams.

If engineers are always spoken of as male, a girl who aspires to be an engineer may feel that she
has no hope, since the common perception is that "all" engineers are men.

If flight attendants are always referred to as stewardesses, males who wish to pursue this line of
work may hesitate to do so due to a stereotype that this is a job for women.

Referring to a female doctor as a lady doctor while simply referring to a male as

a doctor reinforces the idea that women in such roles are somehow less than their male
counterparts.

Interfering With Effective Communication

Sexist language can also cause people to feel excluded. This is not an issue that violates your
right to free speech; you are free to use offensive language, and also free to decide that you do
not agree with the definition of what constitutes sexist language. However, if you are using
language that is offensive to half of your audience, you will not be able get your message
across. People will not be receptive to your arguments if they are aggrieved by your use of
exclusively masculine or feminine pronouns.

Replace Sexist Language in Your Vocabulary

Remember that the goal is not to avoid referring to individual people as male or female when
you are certain of an individual’s gender. The goal is to be inclusionary when speaking in
hypothetical statements or of mixed-gender groups or people who may be transgender or non-+
+binary.

Use genderless collective references: Use humanity or the human race instead
of man or mankind when you are referring to all people.

Avoid nonspecific pronouns- he: Don’t use he or him as a general term. Instead, use an
appropriate article, such as the, a, or an. Instead of his, use one’s or a person’s. If you are
speaking of a single hypothetical individual, use person or individual instead of man.

Describe roles without specifying gender: Use genderless titles whenever possible, such
as meterologist instead of weatherman, firefighter instead of fireman, and homemaker instead
of housewife.

Don’t add gender markers: Avoid adding gender markers to genderless titles, such as male
nurse; use the genderless title alone (i.e., nurse). This should apply to all occupations; there is
no reason to pair a person’s gender with the individual’s job title.

Use plural where possible: Rework sentences in the plural to avoid gendered pronouns and
possessive adjectives. This will create smoother and more grammatically correct prose than
using a plural pronoun with a singular subject. For example:

Sexist: Each student makes up his own schedule.

Grammatically incorrect: Each student makes up their own schedule.

Gender-neutral and grammatically correct: Students make up their own schedules.

Include both male and female pronouns: When it is not possible to recast sentences in the
plural, use “he or she” or “his or her” to be inclusive. (The winning contestant must claim his or
her prize by Tuesday.) However, using this formulation too often can break up the flow of your
writing, so use it sparingly.
Use gender neutral letter greetings: Don’t address letters to Dear Sir(s). Contact the company
to get the actual name of the letter recipient or use “To Whom it May Concern” or similar.

Suffixes -man, -master -woman and -ess

Many people feel that traditional uses of the suffixes -man, -master, -woman and -ess are sexist
and outdated, so alternative, neutral forms are often used (m = male; f = female).

traditional form neutral alternative

fireman (m) fire-fighter

policeman (m) policewoman (f) police officer

headmaster (m) headmistress (f

Head teacher or head
)

waiter (m) waitress (f) Waiter or server (American English)

In many cases, we can use the traditional male suffix for both sexes.

traditional form neutral alternative

actor (m) actress (f) actor

manager (m) manage

manager
ress (f)

poet (m) poetess (f) poet

waiter (m) waitress (f

waiter
)

Nouns, adjectives and verbs with man

Some nouns, adjectives and verbs which include man are considered sexist nowadays. We can
often use neutral alternatives:

traditional form neutral alternatives

workers, workforce, staff, personnel, human

manpower (noun)
resources

man (verb) staff, be at, attend to

manmade (adjective
artificial, synthetic
)

The firm is hoping to take on more workers (or staff). (preferred to … more manpower …)

Somebody will have to be at the entrance to take the tickets as people come in. (preferred
to Somebody will have to man the entrance …)

Synthetic fibres are never as nice to wear as natural ones. (preferred to Manmade fibres )

Dashes

Writers use dashes in a lot of different situations. For example, a sudden break is an instance of
when to use dashes. They may also use dashes in dialogue to show when one character’s speech
is interrupted by another’s. Dashes help writers set off long explanatory statements, or
statements that give more information about someone or something. Dashes also help set off
introductory lists.

A dash is a punctuation mark that is similar to a hyphen or minus sign, but differs from both of
these symbols primarily in length and function. The most common versions of dash are the en
dash (–) longer than the hyphen and the em dash (—)longer than the en dash; and
the horizontal bar.

Historically, the names of en dash and em dash came from the width of an uppercase N and
uppercase M , respectively, in commonly used fonts.

Types of dashes

Usage varies both within English and in other languages, but the usual convention in printed
English text is as follows:
  An em dash or an en dash can be used to mark a break in a sentence, and a pair can be
used to set off parenthetical statements. Often in this function en dashes are used with
spaces and em dashes are used without them.

Glitter, felt, yarn, and buttons—his kitchen looked as if a clown had exploded.
A flock of sparrows – some of them juveniles – alighted and sang.
 The em dash is used to set off the sources of quotes:

Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without
conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without
humanity, and worship without sacrifice.
— Mahatma Gandhi
 The en dash is used to indicate spans or differentiation, where it may be considered to
replace "and" or "to".

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was fought in western Pennsylvania and along the
present US–Canada border (Edwards, pp. 81–101).

Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons,

ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added
emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change
of thought. Experienced writers know that
these marks are not interchangeable.

November 23, 2020

Quotation marks

Quotation marks, also known as quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas,
or talking marks, are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set
off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a
closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same character.

TYPES
Quotation marks, are of two types: single and double. British practice is normally to enclose
quoted matter between single quotation marks, and to use double quotation marks for a
quotation within a quotation:

'Have you any idea', he said, 'what "dillegrout" is?'

This is the preferred Oxford University Press (OUP) practice for academic books. The order is
often reversed in newspapers, and uniformly in US practice:

"Have you any idea," he said, "what 'dillegrout' is?"

Americans, use double quotation marks at all times unless quoting

something within a quotation, you use single. The British use singles in
books and doubles in newspapers.

Uses of Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are used to indicate the beginning and end of a quote. They tell the reader
when you've used written material from other sources or direct speech.

Direct quotations

A direct quotation tells the reader when words are taken directly from another text or source.

Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a direct quotation.

“ You are the last person on earth I'd ask,” she told him.

Quotations within quotations

Use single quotation marks within double ones to indicate a quotation within a quotation.

“ My father began by saying, 'I refuse to listen to any excuses,'” he told the psychiatrist.

If you are indenting and single spacing a long quotation, use the same punctuation marks that
appear in the original passage. In this example, the writer is quoting a passage from the critic
Martin Esslin, who in turn is quoting the playwright Ionesco.

Martin Esslin describes Ionesco's attitude toward spontaneity in this passage:

Miscellaneous uses of quotation marks

There are a few other situations that call for quotation marks.

 To distance yourself from an offensive term or expression (quoting someone else).

The disappointed body builder blamed the “fat slobs” who judged the contest.

 To refer to a word as a word.

She repeatedly used the term “irregardless,” not realizing that no such word exists.
  To indicate a nickname written as part of a formal name.

Ray “Shorty” Johannsen was the unanimous choice for committee chair.

To set off titles of poems, essays, and articles that is part of a longer work. (For this use, as for
bibliographical and footnote information, check to see whether you are required to use a
specific style guide for your writing.)

Place commas and periods inside the quotation marks. Place all other punctuation outside
quotation marks unless it was contained in the original source. Follow this whether the comma
is part of the original quotation.

The general rule is that commas and periods should be inside the quotation marks at all
times, while all other forms of punctuation, such as question marks, colons, semicolons
and exclamations marks, should be outside the quotation marks, unless they are in the
original quotation.

Example:

The court held that, “Physical injury is not a required element of a sexual harassment claim”,
and the plaintiff went on to win her case. ---- incorrect

The court held that, “Physical injury is not a required element of a sexual harassment claim,”
and the plaintiff went on to win her case. ---- correct

How dare you call me a “bad apple!” ---- incorrect

How dare you call me a “bad apple”! ---- correct

Spelling out Numbers One to Ten

Numbers, show up in everyday writing. Like many facets of the English language, there are
rules for writing numbers. There are certain numbers that we spell out in letters and others we
write as numerals.

Here are some general rules for spelling out numbers.

1. Spell out Numbers under 10:

 Martin has two younger sisters and five older brothers.

 Mary read four new books last week and seven newspaper articles.
 2. Spell out Numbers at the beginning of a sentence:

 Sixty children came to the class trip last year but, this year, there were 80.
 Fifty-two miles were all she had left on her journey to Scotland.

3. Fractions:

 About one-third of the group comes from China.

 She filled her gas tank with two-thirds of a gallon.

The exception to this rule pertains to mixed fraction. We then use numerals (unless, of course, it
comes at the beginning of a sentence):

 The recipe calls for 2½ cups of nuts.

 Our class art project calls for 1¼ cups of glitter.

4. To express time, except when using the terms am and pm (AM, PM)

 The class ends at three O’ clock.

5. Some experts say that one word number should be written out.

 Twelve, twenty, thirty

6. Short sentences involving numbers can be spelled out.

 She made forty dollars

7. Centuries and decades should be spelled out but can also be written in numerals.
Don’t capitalize them.

 During the eighties and nineties, the US economy grew.

 Nineteenth century was an age of Uncertainty.
 She lived in San Francisco in the '80s.

8. If the number is rounded spell it out. Rounded numbers over a million are written
as numeral plus a word.

 About 400 million people speak Spanish.

 Instead of -- About 400,000,000 people speak Spanish.

9. When writing out numbers above 999, do not use comma.

 One thousand, one hundred fifty four dollars, and sixty one cents --- incorrect
  One thousand one hundred fifty four dollars and sixty one cents --- correct

Numbers That Require Numerals

Numbers 10 and above:

 She's bought about 12 pairs of shoes and 16 dresses in the last three months.

When numbers are in a list, it's best to keep all the numbers in the list consistent, even if some
numbers are under 10 and some are over:

 Incorrect: She has four brothers aged seven, nine, 12, and 15.
 Correct: She has four brothers aged 7, 9, 12, and 15.

 Incorrect: Mary's traveled to three European countries and 14 deserted islands.

 Correct: Mary's traveled to 3 European countries and 14 deserted islands.

Dates:

 Are you coming to the game on May 21st?

 Join our spooky Halloween party: 10/31/2018.

We do not use ordinal numbers (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd) with full dates:

 Incorrect: The play is on March 23rd, 2010.

 Correct: The play is on March 23, 2010.

Percentages:

 According to the latest survey, 52% of teachers live in the city.

 It's good to know that only 7% of Americans say they are unhappy.

If a percentage begins a sentence, it should be spelled out:

 Fifty-two percent of teachers live in the city.

 Ninety-three percent of Americans say they are happy.

Decimals:

 There were 3.73 inches of rain last month.

 The mountain accumulated 8.98 inches of snow today.

Numbers and Money

When it comes to money, numbers follow their own set of rules. Money is usually written as
numerals, but can be written out when the amount is small or rounded up - "it cost two or three
dollars." Here are some of the most important guidelines to keep in mind:

 Currency symbols should be placed before the number, with no spaces.

Example: She earned $2,750 for that project.
 Thousands should be separated by commas.
Example: Marcy inherited $35,000 from her late uncle.
 Decimals should be separated by periods.
Example: Seamus only spent $149.99 on that new smart TV.
 When you reach numbers in the millions and billions, write out the full word (instead of
all those zeros).
Example: That new company earned $10 million in 2018.
 Do not write out the currency if you've already indicated an amount with a currency
symbol.
Example: I have $895 left in my checking account.

The following are special instances that may be written in multiple ways.

Time:

We usually spell out the time when it is followed by o'clock or when a.m. or p.m. is not
mentioned. Use numerals when we need to emphasize the exact time and when using am and
pm

Using o'clock:

 Incorrect: We have to get up at 6 o'clock to be on time for school.

 Correct: We have to get up at six o'clock to be on time for school.

Using a.m. or p.m.

 Incorrect: They did not leave the party until two a.m.
 Correct: They did not leave the party until 2 a.m.

Also, it's common to spell out noon and midnight instead of writing 12:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.

 We came home around midnight and slept until noon the next day.

 At midnight, the countdown for our trip will last until takeoff at noon tomorrow

When in doubt, whether to spell out or write a number, it's usually best to spell it out.