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Proper Way to Spell Out Numbers

Thursday, March 05, 2009
Related Tags: spelled | denominator | numbers | hyphens | spelling
 

Instructions

Smaller Numbers

  • Step 1:
    The smallest numbers and multiples of ten can be spelled out in a straightforward manner. For example: zero, one, three, five, twelve, fifteen, twenty, thirty, etc.

Hyphenated Twenties Through Nineties

  • Step 1:
    These low numbers will always use hyphens when they aren't a multiple of ten, such as twenty, thirty, forty, etc. For example: twenty-one, thirty-five, ninety-nine, etc.

Hundreds, Thousdands, and More

  • Step 1:
    Use spaces to separate higher digits from lower digits. For example: one hundred thirty-two, five thousand one hundred twelve, one million five hundred seventy-five thousand one hundred twelve. Do not use "and" when spelling out whole numbers because "and" denotes that every number following it is a decimal. For example: five hundred and three (tenths).

Decimals

  • Step 1:
    Decimals will look like fractions when spelled out, and both should be spelled out with hyphens separating the numerator from the denominator. For example: 0.3 and 3/10 are both three-tenths.

Fractions

  • Step 1:
    In the example above, note that the denominator is read as an ordinal, though there are exceptions, such as when the denominator is 2: 1/2 is spelled out as one-half, and 5/2 is spelled out as five-halves. Use "and" when spelling out a mixed fraction---a whole number and a fraction. For example: 3 1/3 would be three and one-third.

Resources

Photo/Video Credit

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Proper Way to Spell Out Numbers Provided by eHow.com
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