Writing Out Numbers in Legal Documents

For example, instead of writing, „It cost ten thousand four hundred and sixteen dollars to renovate the local library,“ you would write, „It cost $10,416 to renovate the local library.“ Scribendi`s in-house editors work with writers from around the world to perfect their writing. They know that no piece is complete without professional editing, and they love to see a good piece of writing turn into a great one after the editing process. Scribendi`s in-house editors are unmatched in terms of experience and training, having collectively worked on millions of words and reached nearly 20 degrees. They like to consume caffeinated drinks, read books of different genres and relax in quiet, dimly lit rooms. • If numbers are repeated in the text or are used for calculations, digits must be used. Major style guides (and internal styles) usually match, but may differ in detail, spelling out numbers up to 12, 20, or 100. But the principle is the same. They will have a hard time finding an authority that dictates spelling „three thousand four hundred and seventy-seven.“ (There are a handful of exceptions in each style, such as spelling numbers when they start a sentence. I`m not going to try to categorize exceptions, just follow the style used in your document.) Rule 1. Write all the numbers at the beginning of a sentence.

10) If two numbers are side by side, spell one of them. Legal documents can range from bank checks and purchase contracts to statements and court decisions. The risk of ambiguity makes it advisable to provide not only accurate and precise amounts and figures, but also the written number. Although cashier`s checks are not used as often these days, most people have seen numbers written to make sure that the amount of the check is not confused. If you want to spell integers with multiple words between 22 and 99, use hyphens. Twenty-three written numbers become plural like other nouns. For example, simply add an „s“ to words like three, hundred, and kajillion. (No, kajillion is not a word, but if it were, a simple „s“ would bring it to the plural.) As another example, replace the „y“ with „i“ and add „it“.

It works for thirty to become thirty, just as it works for the family to become families. Numbers become plural by simply adding an „s“. No apostrophes required. I have struggled to find a reliable source – and I want to be very clear: any reliable source – that requires, specifies, encourages, justifies or even tolerates this practice. Even in this manual (my related boundary document was created in Massachusetts, so I guess it follows the rules of the fair), there is no reference to this sort of thing. However, I probably shouldn`t take this as gospel: the „General Laws of Massachusetts“ is a document that is a blatant culprit when it comes to spelling numbers instead of using numbers. Compare these two example pages to see if you can read a guiding principle in the good old „M.G.L.“ When you create documents in your company, you need to understand that there is no hard and fast rule for writing an amount in dollars and cents. All you`re really trying to do is clarity, so there`s no doubt about how much you`re writing and no room for argumentation. It is best to write the amount in words, and then follow with the numerical amount: ABC pays XYZ two million dollars ($2,000,000). The idea here is that numbers are easier to read, but they`re also much easier to type, for example by transposing a few numbers – $50,967 instead of $50,697.

If there is a discrepancy, words will prevail. For very large sums, writing „$6.8 million“ or „$10.2 million“ should suffice, but you don`t want to go beyond one decimal place, otherwise it will become confusing. so that writing, including writing numbers, was unusual and *only* done for important documents; *I would reverse these two words to put the diminutive „only“ immediately before what it is supposed to reduce. Better yet, consider „made only for important documents.“ See Gregg, p. 1072.* If the number is large and you want to avoid writing everything down, organize the sentence so that the number no longer comes first. In English, the comma is represented by a period (.) and commas are used to divide long numbers. Commas cannot be used to represent a comma. Spell out numbers less than 10 and large round numbers. Nine, 15, a thousand The context for this is to increase security: by writing a number both in numbers and words, it is believed that if a printing error (of the figure) appears in the final version, its expression should clarify in words what was actually agreed.