Numbers
Numbers can be written two ways: spelled out in letters (two) or written in numerals (2). The rules are: Spell out numbers one through one hundred. Spell out rounded numbers (hundreds, millions). Spell out numbers in reference to age. Spell out all numbers that begin a sentence. Use numerals (1234) for all other numbers.
Michael crouched down. “There are millions of ants here!”
“I need fifty copies of the flyer,” Megan said.
“I need 2,500 copies of the flyer,” Megan said.
“She’s ninety-six years old!”
“One, I can’t understand why you hate me. And, two, I don’t like you either.”
Time
Always spell out the time of day unless you’re referring to the exact time.
Drew went to bed at five o’clock exhausted from the tournament.
“Mom slept in and I missed my nine-thirty dentist appointment.”
“I get to church way early because the Sunday bus goes by my house at 7:10.”
“Class starts directly at 8:35 tomorrow morning. Don’t be late!”
Dates
Dates are written with numerals. Do not write August 1st. The correct methods are:
August 1.
“On January 1, 2000, there were no major fallouts due to the new millennium.”
“The photograph is copyright April 1942.”
On 5 February, 1903 Mario and his family arrived in America.
When a day is mentioned without the month or year, spell out the number.
“By the fifteenth, finals will be over and we can focus on the Christmas holidays!”
There are TONS of rules for punctuation and grammar. If you’re serious about writing, get yourself a grammar reference book. I recommend: Strunk, White, and Angell’s Elements of Style; O’Conner’s Woe Is I: A Grammaphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English; two books by Bill Walsh, Elephants of Style and Lapsing Into a Comma; as well as Cochrane and Humphry’s Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English.
Or, if you want to be really thorough, get a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style if you are writing novels. This book has all the rules you never wanted to know. If you are writing articles for newspapers or magazines, get a copy of the Associated Press Stylebook, as the rules are different for articles.
I’m pretty sure that this ends my Punctuation 101 posts. I’m sure there is something out there that I missed. If you can think of something, I’d be happy to research the rules and write a post about it. Let me know in the comments.