Grammar #13

The Numbers' Rule!

The rules of numbers in English can be very confusing. Presonally, I was not even aware that these rules were established. Some rules and exmaples are as follows:

Spell out numbers from 1 to 9, and write out numerically all numbers 10 and above.
"There were nine chickens, but only one rooster."
"There are a total of 10 birds in the yard."

Do not start a sentence with a numeral, unless it is a year.
"1984 was the year I was born."
"Twenty fish were in the pond."

Always use numerals with a percent, but write out the word "percent". Only use the percent symbol, "%", when using graphs, charts, etc.
"97 percent of the time I am right. I'm only wrong the other 4 percent."

http://www.cmu.edu/styleguide/dates_numbers.html