Getting numbers figured on our proofreading course

Several people on our proofreading course told us they appreciated our blog on the Guardian’s style guide’s use of capital letters.

So here are some tips on the use of numbers, which are even easier.

This is what the style guide says:

Numbers: ‘Spell out from one to nine; numerals from 10 to 999,999; thereafter use m, bn or tn for sums of money, quantities or inanimate objects in copy, eg 5m tonnes of coal, 30bn doses of vaccine, £50tn; but million or billion for people or animals, eg 1 million people, 25 million rabbits, the world population is 7 billion, etc; in headlines always use m, bn or tn.’

Which is pretty straightforward, especially with the helpful use of examples. Just imagine, 25 million rabbits …

Remember though, that if a sentence starts with a number, it must be presented as a word, for example: ‘Twelve rabbits are too many for one hutch.’ If you are not sure what to do, query it.

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