Style Guide Entries on Dates and Numbers
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
academic year
Use 2004-05 not 2004-2005 for an academic year. Also lowercase seasons, semesters and terms.
Examples:
fall semester, spring semester, summer session
He will graduate in spring 2006. She entered college in fall 2004.
She plans to retire at the end of the 2005-06 academic year.
addresses
Spell out and capitalize street, boulevard, court, road, place, avenue, etc. when used or referred to in an address. Spell out compass points in an address. Spell out names of numbered streets one through nine; use numerals for 10 and above.
Examples:
The University is located on College Avenue. The University’s address is 1301 College Avenue, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401-5300.
There are three places available for rent: 648 Lexington Place Northwest, 1908 Fifth Avenue and Three 19th Street.
While not preferred for formal correspondence, for bulk or mass mailings it is acceptable to use abbreviations and formatting guidelines of the U.S. Postal Service (no punctuation, all capitals) to address envelopes.
Example: (not preferred for formal correspondence; acceptable for mass mailings)
OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS
UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
1301 COLLEGE AVE
FREDERICKSBURG VA 22401-5300
Use 4-digit extension with ZIP Codes for all addresses. To look up ZIP + 4 Codes, visit http://www. usps.com/zip4/ . For U.S. Postal Service official abbreviations for states, street suffixes and secondary unit designators (apartment, suite, etc.), visit http://www.usps.com and type “abbreviations” in the search box.
ages
See numbers, numerals.
cardinal numbers
See numbers, numerals.
century
Spell out numbers of centuries from first through ninth in lower case, but use numerals from the 10th century on. Use a hyphen when century is used as an adjective.
Examples:
That wall dates from the eighth century, but the dwelling is from the 16th century. He was an 18th-century painter.
dates
Spell out days of week and months. Do not use a comma between month and year when a specific day is not mentioned. The same is true for seasons. Use a comma after the year when a specific date is given. Time, date, place is the preferred order for listing events. (For AP Style, see dates in Appendix XII.)
Examples:
Sunday, September 19, 2004
The board meets in February 2005. She graduated in fall 1991.
September 19, 2004, was the date mentioned for the next event.
The meeting will be 1 p.m. Friday, January 21, 2005, in the Red Room.
days, months, years
Do not use on with dates when its absence would not lead to confusion.
Example:
The program ends December 15.
To describe sequences or inclusive dates or times, an en dash is acceptable; using the word to or from…to is more formal. Be consistent in format; do not use from with an en dash.
Examples:
Apply here May 7–9, 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
Apply here from May 7 to 9, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Use numerals (10, 11 and 12) instead of words or ordinal numbers such as 10th, 11th and 12th when referring to specific dates.
Examples:
Correct: Submit applications by October 14.
Incorrect: Submit applications by October 14th.
Correct: Submit applications by the 14th of October.
Use s and no apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1940s. A shortened version of years with an apostrophe and s is also acceptable: the ’40s and ’50s. Use an apostrophe for class years: the Class of ’72. See also apostrophe types, class year and years.
days of the week
Do not abbreviate except when needed in a tabular format. In tables, use three letters, without periods, to facilitate tabular composition: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat. (For AP Style, see days of the week in Appendix XII.)
Examples:
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
dimensions
Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc., to indicate length, width, depth and height. Hyphenate adjective forms before nouns.
Examples:
We need a pipe measuring 4 inches. We need a 4-inch pipe.
He is 6 feet 6 inches. He is a 6-foot-6-inch man.
fractions
Spell out amounts less than one (1) in letters, using hyphens between words. For precise amounts larger than one (1), use figures and convert to decimals when possible.
Examples:
The construction project is two-thirds complete.
The new campus is 1.5 times larger than the old campus.
Jr., Sr.
Always precede with a comma. Numerals never take a comma. (For AP Style, see junior, senior in Appendix XII.)
Examples:
John Jones, Jr.; John J. Smith III
numbers, numerals
Spell out whole numbers below 10. Use figures for 10 and above. For ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.), the same general rules apply: spell out first through ninth and use numerals for 10th and above. See superscript.
Spell out a number at the beginning of a sentence, except in the case of numerals identifying a calendar year. For numbers in a series, be consistent in format. See zero.
Examples:
She is first in her class.
Thirty is her lucky number. 2006 is the next annual convention.
The winning lottery numbers are 21, 17, 3, 44, 15, and 9.
2006 will mark his 50th birthday.
When large numbers must be spelled out, use a hyphen to connect a word ending in y to another word; do not use commas between other separate words that are part of one number.
Examples:
twenty, twenty-one
One hundred forty-five bricks were used to build the walkway.
Use numerals for ages and credit designation.
Examples:
She is 30, and her daughter is 5.
The 30-year-old woman applied for the position.
The 2-year-old child went to preschool.
The class is 3 credits. It was a three-hour lecture.
ordinal numbers
See numbers, numerals.
percent
Spell out this word. Always use figures with percents. For figures less than 1 percent, precede the decimal with a zero. Repeat percent with each figure in a range. In text, be consistent.
Examples:
There was a 0.5 percent variable rate.
The students predict that 40 percent to 50 percent of the class will pass.
Roman numerals
Roman numerals use letters (I, X, etc.) to express numbers. Use Roman numerals with names of wars and to establish personal sequence for people and animals. Use Arabic numerals in all other cases.
Examples:
World War I, Native Dancer II, King George V, Pope John XXIII
superscript
Superscript is for notes only. Manually change “th” if your computer puts it in superscript.
Examples:
Correct: 10th
Incorrect: 10th
telephone numbers
Preferred format with parentheses: (540) 654-1000. Acceptable format: 540-654-1000. Lowercase the word telephone (and fax) unless it is the first word of a sentence, phrase or line. Be consistent in format when listing fax and telephone.
Examples:
Please contact me by telephone (540) 654-1000 or by fax (540) 654-1164.
Telephone: (540) 654-1000 • Fax: (540) 654-1164
time
Use figures and a colon to separate hours from minutes. Preferred format is to not include a colon or minutes if the time is exactly on the hour. For consistency, it is permissible to add the colon for whole hour times. Use periods in a.m. and p.m.; do not capitalize.
Use noon for 12 p.m. and midnight for 12 a.m. Avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. this morning or 7 p.m. Monday night; instead use 10 a.m. today or 7 p.m. Monday.
To indicate a range of times, an en dash is acceptable. Using the words to and from is more formal than using a dash. Be consistent in format; do not use from with an en dash. See em dash, en dash.
Examples:
Correct: Student registration is 2:30–6 p.m. today.
Also Correct: We will meet 2:30–6:00 p.m.
Correct: The reception will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Also Correct: We will meet 4:30–7:00 p.m.
Correct: The luncheon is scheduled to begin at noon.
Incorrect: The luncheon is scheduled to begin at 12 noon.
Correct: The party ended at midnight.
Incorrect: The party ended at 12 midnight.
Time, date, place is the preferred order for listing events.
Example:
The meeting will be 1 p.m. Friday, January 21, 2005, in the Red Room.
Time zones may be abbreviated such as EST (Eastern Standard Time) or CDT (Central Daylight Time), if linked to a clock time. Otherwise, they must be spelled out.
years
Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries. Note use of comma after the year when included with month and day. See also comma and class year.
Examples:
the 1960s, the 1800s, the ’80s, the ’90s
The committee set July 5, 2005, as the due date for the report.
zero
Spell out on all references to a quantity of zero. Use the numeral 0 as a placeholder in numerals or in front of a decimal point for fractional numerals.
Examples:
zero degrees, a budget of zero; 0.5 percent growth