Litigation

Editing Tip: Spell Out Numbers One to Ten, and Don't Repeat Them in Parentheses

By Evan Schaeffer

Apparently, there used to be some formal editing rule that said you had to write numbers twice, repeating them once in parentheses, like this:

You still see this number-repeating idea often in legal writing. It's not necessary. The better rule is to spell out numbers one to ten, use numerals for numbers higher than 10, and forget about repeating numbers in parentheses. The revision to the two examples would look like this:

Much easier to read, isn't it?

Source: Bryan A. Garner, The Winning Brief.

Full post as published by The Illinois Trial Practice Blog on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).