Category_MWW Blog>General

The Hyphen for an Incomplete Number

Formal English rules say that an incomplete number should be written out in words. ...I think you said you made four or five hundred dollars. Combined with the consistency rule, this presents som...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

Words in the Middle of the Year

When a year is interrupted by a word or two, the English rule says to write out the number in words. That is always the fallback position. However, as always in reporting, numbers written in words ...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

Sequential References

A sequential reference is a number that is part of a series of numbers, which usually follows the word that designates what the number is referring to. We consider a number to be "sequential" when ...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

What If They Say "212"?

This question has popped up in seminars over the last several months. My answer is to put it into the transcript as "2012." I know. You are yelling, "But that is not verbatim!" First of all, we ar...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

"A Million" or "One Million" and Others

There is a recurring question about these kinds of numbers. What if it is "...sent a hundred dollars to him" or "...paid ten and a half" or "...a little over a million"? The answer is that these ar...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

Ordinal Numbers in a Date

All dates are transcribed in figures. When the ordinal is added to a date when said -- ...on May 5th... -- it is not good grammar. It is not correct to say the month and date and add the ordinal t...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

Consistency for Numbers

Great seeing so many "old" familiar faces at DRA. Wow. It has been a few years. Glad to see you thriving in this wonderful field. There was a recent discussion on numbers and their form within a s...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

"The Years in 2000" Problem

Good morning, In Fergus Falls, MN, this morning, headed for Bismarck, ND, and then Grand Forks -- two groups of fabulous North Dakota reporters. This question came up on my page on Facebook: "Mo...