Core Grammar - Numbers

insert a hyphen when writing out

compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine

do not add "and" when writing out

compound numbers greater than ninety-nine

Final comma

a comma that appears before a coordinating conjunction (such as and) at the end of a list. The final comma is also called the "terminal comma," the "serial comma," or the "oxford comma." Historically, and in current formal english writing, the final comma in a series was a requirement. Today, many disciplines (such as journalism) have eliminated the final comma. Legal writing continues to use the final comma to avoid any risk of ambiguity.

Do not use hyphens with numbers greater than ninety-nine unless the number

contains a compound number

numbers that begin a sentence should be written out and the

first letter (and no others) should be capitalized

a citation sentence

immediately follows the sentence it supports or contradicts. As with any declarative sentence, a citation sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period

An ordinal is a

number that indicates placement in a series (like first, eighth, or tenth). Lawyers use ordinals often because much of what we write about is linear and requires sequential ordering of thoughts and events

write out numbers

one through ninety-nine

where one number in a series should be treated as a numeral

treat all numbers in the series as numerals

if you are using numbers 100 or greater

use numerals

A citation clause

use this when your cited authority relates to only party of a sentence, rather than to the content of the sentence as a whole. A citation clause immediately follows the particular ieas or words within a sentence that are supported or contradicted by the cited authority.

write out monetary amounts and percentages in words if the number associated with the amount would normally be

written out in words