Plurals and Punctuation of Numbers
The plural forms of numbers expressed as words do not use an apostrophe; instead, they are formed just as other plurals are by adding an ‘s’ or ‘es’ (‘sixes and sevens’) or by changing a ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding the ‘es’ (‘seventies’, ‘eighties’, etc.). ‘Dozen’, ‘hundred’, ‘thousand’, ‘million’, ‘billion’ and ‘trillion’ tend to remain singular, however (e.g., ‘four thousand’, ‘eight million’, etc.), unless they express indefinite quantities (as in ‘dozens of icebergs’ or ‘hundreds of birds’).
Abbreviated measures that appear with numerals are not pluralised, and in most cases there should be a space between the numeral and the abbreviation (e.g., ‘44 cm’, ‘12 kg’ and ‘20 °C’). When numerals are associated with other letters, however, there is usually no space between the numerals and the letters (as in ‘pp. 33ff’ and ‘Question 2a’).
When compound numbers are written as words, they are hyphenated (‘twenty-four’, ‘seventy-ninth’, etc.) and the same is usually true of fractions (such as ‘one-quarter’ and ‘two-thirds’), although fractions can be left open, especially when the text focuses on the number or individual parts of a quantity (e.g., ‘he gave one third of the pie to his friend and another third to his brother’).
When large numbers are expressed as Arabic numerals, a comma is generally used after the third digit counting from right to left (‘4,578’, ‘67,512’, etc.), but in some cases the comma is not used in four-digit numerals (‘4578’). In technical and scientific writing, the commas often do not appear, but spaces are used instead (‘4 578’, ‘67 512’, etc.), though four-digit numerals do not always feature the space (‘4578’). The same principle applies to digits after the decimal point: after three digits counting from left to right, a space is often used (‘17.239 8’, ‘5.349 65’, etc.), but not always if there are only four digits after the decimal (‘17.2398’).
The choices involved in expressing numbers effectively in formal English can be complicated, yet accuracy and consistency are essential to clear professional communication, as well as to the meaningful analysis of numerical data, so checking and rechecking the format of numbers should always be an important part of preparing a piece of academic or scientific writing for publication. Fortunately, the proofreaders at PRS are experienced in the formatting of numbers and all other elements of scholarly writing, and we are always delighted to help you polish your work to perfection.
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At proofreading services we pride ourselves on the exceptionally dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals who provide our English editing and proofreading services. Our editors and proofreaders are highly educated native speakers of English who have undergone rigorous training in expert editing practices, and their fields of study and specialisation range so widely that we are able to help our clients improve and polish research manuscripts of all kinds for successful publication. Many members of our research paper editing and proofreading team focus on journal editing, manuscript editing, scientific manuscript editing, academic proofreading, academic editing, dissertation proofreading services, professional proofreading, thesis editing services and scientific proofreading, assisting authors with articles that will be submitted to scientific and academic journals by ensuring that the formatting and references in their manuscripts conform to the relevant guidelines with precision and by correcting grammar, punctuation, spelling and typing errors to enable the clear and accurate communication of original research that acquisitions editors expect in publishable papers.
Our scientific editing, medical editing, bioscience editing, life science editing, environmental science editing, pharmaceutical science editing, physical science editing, agricultural science editing, LaTeX paper editing, social science editing, political science editing, engineering paper editing, psychology editing, research paper editing, manuscript editing, humanities editing, journal article editing, biomedical science editing, planetary science editing, plant science editing, material science editing, veterinary science editing, behavioural science editing and neurosurgery editing services for authors of scientific papers and reports are especially popular, but we also excel at book editing and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit books and papers of all kinds across every scholarly discipline. Some of our carefully trained editors and proofreaders work exclusively on PhD thesis editing, master’s dissertation proofreading, bachelor’s dissertation proofreading, thesis editing, dissertation editing, thesis proofreading and dissertation proofreading, applying their education and instructional skills in providing thesis editing and dissertation proofreading services that help advanced students to improve the formatting and language of their theses and dissertations and thereby increase their chances of degree success. Whether you are preparing a conference or class presentation, putting the final touches to a professional report for colleagues or tackling the challenging task of editing any kind of academic or scientific document for publication, a qualified member of our outstanding proofreading and editing team will be delighted to provide proofreading and editing services and boost your confidence in your written work.
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