Writing Tips
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Index B
- back up
- backup
- bad (1)
- bad (2)
- badly
- bandwagon
- based on
- Batavo-
- B (billion)
- B.C.
- BC (1)
- BC (2)
- BCE
- be-
- be advised that
- bear a resemblance to
- beaver fever
- beaver-fever
- because of
- because of the fact that
- Before Christ
- Before the Christian Era
- Before the Common Era
- begin
- begin at
- begin by
- begin from
- begin on
- begin to do
- begin with
- beg off
- beg the question
- behaviour
- behavioural
- behaviourism
- Belgo-
- below
- beneath
- benefit by
- benefit from
- benefits of
- benefits to
- be of the opinion that
- Beothuk
- be prohibited from
- beside
- besides
- beyond a shadow of a doubt
- beyond the realm of possibility
- bi-
- biannual (1)
- biannual (2)
- bias
- biblio-
- bibliographies: arrangement
- bibliographies: articles
- bibliographies: author’s name
- bibliographies: book
- bibliographies: edition
- bibliographies: finding the information for an entry
- bibliographies: general
- bibliographies: order of precedence
- bibliographies: publishing information
- bibliographies: romanization
- bibliographies: secondary responsibility
- bibliographies: secondary source citations
- bibliographies: sources other than books and articles
- bibliographies: titles
- bibliographies: translation
- bibliographies: types of bibliography
- bibliographies: works in a series
- biceps
- biennial
- billion
- bimonthly
- birthday
- biweekly
- black-and-white thinking
- bloc
- block
- book off
- born
- borne
- Bosnian-Croatian
- both … and
- boy
- braces
- breach
- bread-and-butter
- breakthrough
- breech
- bridgeable
- bring
- bring a charge against
- bring into question
- bring into the open
- bring pressure to bear on
- bring to a close
- bring to a conclusion
- bring to an end
- bring to completion
- British Columbia
- British Columbian
- broach
- broad
- brooch
- Bulgaro-
- Bungee
- Bungi
- business letters: attention line
- business letters: block style
- business letters: body of the letter
- business letters: carbon copy notation
- business letters: complimentary close
- business letters: consistency
- business letters: date
- business letters: delivery (mailing) notation
- business letters: enclosure notation
- business letters: indent style
- business letters: inside address
- business letters: length
- business letters: letterhead
- business letters: margins
- business letters: model letter
- business letters: name of person; title; name of organization
- business letters: postscript
- business letters: reference initials
- business letters: reference line
- business letters: salutation
- business letters: signature
- business letters: spacing
- business letters: subject line
- by (1)
- by (2)
- by (a specified time)
- by foot
- by means of
- by reason of the fact that
- by virtue of
- by virtue of the fact that
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Search and Functionalities Area
billion, B (billion)
In North American usage, the word billion means a thousand million (109); but in British usage, it means a million million (1012). The use of figures avoids all ambiguity.
- Genna won $2,000,000 with Lotto 649 and not $2,000,000,000 as reported in the local press.
Where billion is qualified or preceded immediately by a number, do not use the plural form billions.
- The new bridge cost over $4 billion to build.
- There are now more than six billion people living on our planet.
BUT
- There are billions and billions of stars in the sky.
- Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent in preparation for the millennium bug.
Also, the abbreviation B for billion—found in newspapers especially—should not be used in formal writing. Note that there is no space between the number and the letter (e.g. 5B), whereas there is a space between the number and the word.
- Informal: Federal aid was reduced by $2.3B in the budget.
- Formal: Federal aid was reduced by $2.3 billion in the budget.
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