Writing Guidelines

Dates, Time, Numbers

 Writing Numbers

02
01
Write out Use figures for
numbers one to 11 and above.
ten in words.
 Writing Numbers

03 04

Avoid mixing words Always use figures

and figures in the in data if decimals
same phrase. or fractions are
Ex: ‘9, 12 or 16’  involved: 6.25 or 6
not ‘nine, 12 or 1/4.
16’.
 Writing Numbers

06
05 Write fractions
Write ordinals
(first, second, in full and
third etc.) in full, hyphenate them
not 1st, 2nd, 3rd. in the body of
text e.g. two-
thirds of the
class.
 Writing Numbers

08
07 Use a comma
Write thousands
as 60,000, not for tens of
60K. thousands or
more: 9000;
12,000;
50,000.
 Writing Numbers

10
09 File sizes should
Write millions as
60 million or always be
60m, not written as
60,000,000. abbreviations e.g.
45Kb, or 1.8Mb.
 Writing Numbers

11 12
A billion is a
Use ‘per cent’
thousand million in running text
(1,000,000,000), (as opposed to
not a million million. tables etc.),
Write billions as 6 not the % sign.
billion or 6bn, not
6,000,000,000.
 Writing Numbers

13 14
Use these forms
Write dates in
rather than the this format: 17
24-hour clock: November
9.30am, 12 noon, 2022 or
5pm, 12 midnight. November 17,
2022.
 Writing Numbers

15 16
If spanning dates in
When indicating the same century,
time span, use drop the first two
‘from/to’, digits of the second
‘between/and’ or date. But keep
‘X-X’. But don’t them if the dates
mix and match span different
centuries: 1967–69,
1999–2008.
See you next time.