August 09, 2011

Numbers, Words, and Punctuation

Here’s a style tip that makes your formal writing look polished. A range of numbers — e.g., “from 250 to 350″ — should always have a typed-out “to” or “through” if you type out the word “from.”

Here’s a correctly typed example:

Professional publishing, which focuses on science, medicine, law, technology and the humanities, increased by 6.3 percent from 2008 through 2010.

— Julie Bosman, “Survey Shows Publishing Expanded Since 2008,” nytimes.com, August 9, 2011

It would also be correct to type “The 2008–2011 figures are in,” since there’s no typed-out preposition “from.”

But it’s incorrect to type “from 2008–2010.” That mistake wouldn’t matter much in a casual note: the meaning is still clear even though the punctuation is nonstandard.

Typing out both prepositions is a nice touch for formal documents. The matching words are easier to understand, while a mismatched “from” and “–” can look clumsy and distract readers.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two full chapters on correct punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to untangle your sentences or double-check your punctuation? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.