Punctuation/Mechanics: Non-English words; numbers

Of the 260 aboriginal languages identified in Australia in the twentieth century, less than _____ percent now have enough speakers to guarantee the survival of the languages.

a. 10 b. ten

Our biology instructor estimated that the ratio of A's to C's on the midterm exam was _____.

10:1

My telephone number is confusing for people because it has so many 9s and 8s

My telephone number is confusing for people because it has so many 9s and 8s

Select the answer option that uses italics correctly. If neither option is correct, select Neither is correct. a. Neither is correct. b. When you hear the word Amazon, you probably think of the Amazon River, but an Amazon is also a small greenish parrot. c. When you hear the word Amazon, you probably think of the Amazon River, but an Amazon is also a small greenish parrot.

When you hear the word Amazon, you probably think of the Amazon River, but an Amazon is also a small greenish parrot.

_______ percent of those students will be assigned to another professor's class.

Fifty

When the news reports an earthquake, the familiar measure of the earthquake's power is the Richter scale. In 1935, Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology, developed this measure of the magnitude of earthquakes specifically for their studies in California. The researchers used an instrument called the Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer. Richter defined 0 as the magnitude of a measure of one micrometer of displacement on this particular seismometer if it were placed one hundred kilometers or sixty-two miles from the epicenter of an earthquake. Because the first system could not work effectively beyond a measure of 6.8, the measures of earthquake magnitude evolved to accommodate a more powerful range of earthquakes. The scale is a base-ten logarithmic scale, which means that each whole number on the scale is ten times the shaking amplitude of the previous number. Therefore a 6.0 earthquake is ten times the amplitude of a 5.0 earthquake and one hundred times the amplitude of a 4.0 earthquake. An earthquake measuring 4.0 is considered light, does minimal damage, and occurs about sixty-two hundred times a year globally. An earthquake measuring 7.0 is major, causes serious damage over large areas, and occurs about 18 times per year. The famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which took place before the creation of the Richter scale, is estimated at 8.0, and the estimate for the Sichuan earthquake in China in 2008 is 7.8. The largest recorded earthquake took place on May 22, 1960, is called the Great Chilean Earthquake, and recorded a 9.5 on the scale.

No revision is necessary.

When the news reports an earthquake, the familiar measure of the earthquake's power is the Richter scale. In 1935, Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology, developed this measure of the magnitude of earthquakes specifically for their studies in California. The researchers used an instrument called the Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer. Richter defined 0 as the magnitude of a measure of one micrometer of displacement on this particular seismometer if it were placed one hundred kilometers or sixty-two miles from the epicenter of an earthquake. Because the first system could not work effectively beyond a measure of 6.8, the measures of earthquake magnitude evolved to accommodate a more powerful range of earthquakes. The scale is a base-ten logarithmic scale, which means that each whole number on the scale is ten times the shaking amplitude of the previous number. Therefore a 6.0 earthquake is ten times the amplitude of a 5.0 earthquake and one hundred times the amplitude of a 4.0 earthquake. An earthquake measuring 4.0 is considered light, does minimal damage, and occurs about sixty-two hundred times a year globally. An earthquake measuring 7.0 is major, causes serious damage over large areas, and occurs about 18 times per year. The famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which took place before the creation of the Richter scale, is estimated at 8.0, and the estimate for the Sichuan earthquake in China in 2008 is 7.8. The largest recorded earthquake took place on May 22, 1960, is called the Great Chilean Earthquake, and recorded a 9.5 on the scale.

a. No revision is necessary.

The paragraph contains several errors in the use of numbers. Decide if the underlined selection needs to be revised or if it is correct as is. Follow the general guidelines given in The Little Seagull Handbook at the beginning and end of the section on Numbers, rather than the advice about specific academic styles, such as MLA or CSE, or about business writing.When the news reports an earthquake, the familiar measure of the earthquake's power is the Richter scale. In 1935, Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology, developed this measure of the magnitude of earthquakes specifically for their studies in California. The researchers used an instrument called the Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer. Richter defined 0 as the magnitude of a measure of one micrometer of displacement on this particular seismometer if it were placed one hundred kilometers or sixty-two miles from the epicenter of an earthquake. Because the first system could not work effectively beyond a measure of 6.8, the measures of earthquake magnitude evolved to accommodate a more powerful range of earthquakes. The scale is a base-ten logarithmic scale, which means that each whole number on the scale is ten times the shaking amplitude of the previous number. Therefore a 6.0 earthquake is ten times the amplitude of a 5.0 earthquake and one hundred times the amplitude of a 4.0 earthquake. An earthquake measuring 4.0 is considered light, does minimal damage, and occurs about sixty-two hundred times a year globally. An earthquake measuring 7.0 is major, causes serious damage over large areas, and occurs about 18 times per year. The famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which took place before the creation of the Richter scale, is estimated at 8.0, and the estimate for the Sichuan earthquake in China in 2008 is 7.8. The largest recorded earthquake took place on May 22, 1960, is called the Great Chilean Earthquake, and recorded a 9.5 on the scale.Which option(s) below would be an acceptable revision of the underlined selection?

eighteen times