The Canadian Style
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- + Abbreviations
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- - Close Numerical Expressions
- Introduction to Numerical Expressions
- Round numbers
- Consistency
- Initial numbers
- Adjectival expressions and juxtaposed numbers
- Mathematical usage
- Ratios
- Fractions
- Decimal fractions
- Quantities and measures
- Money
- Representation of time in ordinary prose and with SI units
- Representation of time of day
- Dates
- Age
- Market quotations
- Votes, scores, etc.
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- Numbers used as nouns
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- Reference numbers
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- Comparative and inclusive numbers
- Roman numerals
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5.04 Initial numbers
Spell out a number—or the word number—when it occurs at the beginning of a sentence, as well as any related numbers that closely follow it:
- Three hundred persons were expected, but only twenty-three showed up.
- Number 6 was the last in the series; there was no number 7.
Where this would result in a cumbersome construction, recast the sentence. The first sentence above could be rewritten as
- A crowd of 300 was expected, but only 23 showed up.
To avoid starting with a number, it may be possible to end the preceding sentence with a semicolon or to punctuate in some other manner. Instead of writing
- But that was now in the past. 1994 was another year.
you could insert a semicolon after past or write ". . . in the past, and 1994 . . . ."
In accordance with 5.10 Quantities and measures, a number followed by a unit of measurement may have to be written in numerals. Thus, to avoid using numerals at the start of a sentence, rewrite
- 18.3 cm/s was the best result we could obtain.
as
- A result of 18.3 cm/s was the best we could obtain.
not
- Eighteen point three . . .
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